The World is Round
by Firro
Summary: A young girl resents life and upbringing in the Foggy Swamp and wants to move to the Northern Water Tribe so that she can master water bending and live in a proper society. At the age of 16, the tribe finally agrees that she is old enough to make her own decisions, so she embarks on a treacherous journey that doesn't just end when she finally reaches the Water Tribe. During this J
1. Chapter 1 - Bildungsroman

The sun took no mercy on the vibrant green leaves as they glistened and reflected what light there was down into eerie depths of the Foggy Swamp that morning. Maro's long, light brown hair made like the leaves in absorbing what light could, from the seemingly impenetrable canopy of the swamp.

It was meditation time for the tribe, and all the people gathered around the trunk of the Banyan grove tree and nested themselves on and about its roots. The idea is that the tribe can learn lessons from the swamp and ultimately try to reach enlightenment. Understanding that the entirety of the swamp is but one living organism can supposedly help us understand the illusion of separation. How all of humanity act separated, and yet, they are all one and the same people.

Maro however had trouble comprehending these thoughts, for you see, Maro, like anyone else from tribe had never seen any lands outside the swamp. Water bending was not even considered an art in the swamp. The people of the tribe were gifted in the ability, but none of it was ever taught between generations.

Maro did not have the patients for meditation today, so it was out of irony that she waited for the right moment to make her escape. Meditation is hard to start off; first you must block out all the noises around you, and especially in the swamp, this could prove to be a whole challenge on it's own since the swamp was constantly littered with the sounds of rustling leaves, chirping birds and other animals around. And so she waited for the perfect time, when everyone would have blocked all the background noise to make her move while still keeping her own wits on her. She could feel the water lacing around her crossed legs as she sat in between two thick roots. She could feel the moss on the small roots she sat on, vibrating to the rhythm of the breathing that was being done by the meditators. And as time passed and the vibrations eased Maro knew she could stand up and walk along out of the masses.

And as well as listening to the water and the roots she also listened to her stomach. 'I see no harm in passing by home to get something to eat' she thought as she ran merrily along the great roots of the Banyan, jumping and sliding over roots in her way. She dived into one of the water ways she needed to cross to get home and swam to the other side where there was earth encampments where people had beds. Privacy was a hard thing to find in the swamp for there were no walls and people had spread out all over.

Maro was rather tall for her age of 15, measuring up at more or less than 160 centimeters. Like the large majority of the tribe, she had a slim build, with skinny arms, legs and fingers. Her skin was white as snow, not that she had ever seen snow before, or anyone with any other skin colour for that matter. Her eyes glowed a vibrant and saturated shade of blue, and eye colour came in many forms in the tribe, unlike skin tone and the one feature that mainly distinctly separated her was her hair. It was golden brown and shimmered while others had dark, dull hair and everyone in the swamp had straight hair. No one in the swamp ever cut their hair.

She walked across the beds and chests made of leaves and extinguished campfires making sure not to tread on any youngsters who were sleeping, and made her way to the back where a cliff face awaited her. She climbed up over the cliff swiftly and precisely, using each roots different level of flexibility to her advantage while making sure the hair that went down just past her calves never interfered.

At the top the the cliff awaited her even more encampments, amongst which one of them was her own families. She shifted around until she saw the bush she always used to identify her encampment. An encampment featured a couple of beds, some chests made of leaves for storage and place for a controlled camp fire. There were never any tents and more than often it was difficult to tell where each encampment started and ended. Also, encampments were _never_ placed on a two dimensional plane. They were also among the trees and the bushes and in holes and vines. Tribesmen were always taught at a young age how to navigate their way around the swamp by walking, climbing, jumping, swinging, swimming and by canoe, if you could get your hands on one.

Maro climbed upon the bush marker and reached her own encampment which was suspended in the air with upon vines. The vines swayed at her touch as she climbed upon them making her way to the chest where food was stored. But in Maro's cunning plan to evade meditation, there was one thing she forgot to take into account.

"Maro, what are you doing here, you fool." came a voice from behind. She jumped and swayed, a piece of mushroom sticking out of her mouth, turning to face her captor. It was her little 5 year old brother Tik. She must have woken him up when she shook the vines.

"You startled me" she said calmly after swallowing the mushroom.

"Why are you always so bad. Go meditate!"

Maro lost her cool. "Fuck off! You can't tell me what to do, your like half my size!"

"Fuck you, I'll tell mum"

"I'll kill you" she said in a threatening way, but regaining her cool.

"Then dad would kill _you_ "

"Where is Wik?"

"Sleeping"

"And you should be too. That makes you just as bad as me!"

"Nah uh!"

"How then? You should be asleep"

"If you go back now, I won't tell mum and dad"

"Alright, deal. Now go back to sleep"

"Don't tell me what to do!" said Tik as he took his leave and climbed back onto his bed of vines. Wik lay in the bed directly under him, sound asleep despite the commotion.

Maro closed both her eyes and pressed her hands on her chest as she took a deep breath to regain her equilibrium. Swiftly and silently, she grabbed some cranberries and taro from of the leaf chests and jumped down from the vines, running back to the cliff edge while nesting the food in her left arm. Taking caution of the food and her hair, she made her way down the cliff and to the waterway bank where she walked along in the opposite way from which she came until she found a little nook in which she sat down and feasted. The water way was only about 10-15 metres wide but it was very, very deep, and was home to a variety of flora and fauna. There were no lakes or rivers in the swamp. The waterways where simply passages where roots and non-water plants had failed to muster, and so water took their place. Occasionally, the waterways would flow with the pull of the moon, and today according to Maro's calculations, was one of those days.

Maro walked along the bank as the waterway began to flow, faster and faster."Water flows" she said to herself as she pressed onwards. "And so must I".

After a decent walk along the banks and a bit of swimming she made it to the point where she recognised she must deviate from her path to reach her destination. She turned and walked deep into the swamp where another waterway, much more modest than the last, was waiting. She followed it along to her final destination. It was a waterfall. A waterfall that led down to a big, calm, shallow pool despite the crashing of the water. Perfect for waterbending practice. The pool was deepest where the water fell onto it, and so Maro would jump from the waterfall and swim in the pool.

She arose from the water and turned to face the harsh beating sounds of the water from above crash down from the roots holding the water way down the the tranquil pool.

Maro did a froggy stroke to the bank; beams of light came down from the edges of the hole in the canopy.

She placed her arms over each other on the bank of the water and pulled herself up so she was lying with her chest to the on the roots and her legs in the water. She pulled one leg up and the other followed, as then she lay along the bank on her side.

She looked down into the water, the crashing of the fall could be heard as she did so. As she looked, another Maro was facing her from the pool and returning the look. Such a phenomenon was not really noticeable in the main parts of the swamp due to the lack of light.

Soon, Maro found that the face of the other Maro was slowly transitioning into another female face that eventually poked it's head out of the water.

"You're so predictable" it said its warm female voice.

Maro stood up, ready to flee. She examined the face before only to realise it was indeed Ora.

"Damnit, what is it with everyone startling me today" said Maro. Ora put her hands over the bank like Maro did previously, but this time Maro have Ora a hand out of the water as well as a hug.

"Let's practice together!" exclaimed Ora with a sparkle in her eye.

Unlike Maro, Ora was already sixteen, but a fair bit shorter than her. She had blue eyes too and long black hair which also carried the unique trait of shining in the sun.

The pool was special to the girls for many reasons, and one of those is that it was so large and round, that the swamp could not keep it covered. And today they could see the moon in all it's glory, despite it being day time. The fact that the pool was uncovered meant that it let the light in, which was cherished by the girls. The water would sparkle and glisten in the soft sunlight, or at least, when the fog was absent. Today was particularly special, because it was one of those rare occasions where there was not a single cloud to be seen, and the sky with it's strong blue struck down the young girls with awe. It was a sight to be seen by too few from the tribe. None of them even knew this place existed. The girls took their stances by the banks, majestically pushing and pulling the water like a tide.

The girls got op on the bank of the pool, where they swayed their bodies, shifting their weightes, pushing and pulling along the water, acting like the moon creating the tides.

"I've been thinking…" said Ora lightly. Maro tensed up in fear of what Ora would say. "If the waterfall flows but the pool does not, where does the water in the pool go?". This put Maro at ease.

"I don't know… but we don't have to follow it. We can create out own flow. That is why _we_ are _waterbenders_ " she said with pride emphasising the last word.

"But who says the flow we create is better than the flow offered to us?"

Maro took a deep breath. "You _will_ come with me to the Northern Water Tribe when I turn sixteen tomorrow. Right?"

"Of course. I will follow you to earth's end and back" said Ora calmly, reaching her left hand to press her palm below Maro's right cheek so that the rest of her hand covered it.

"And so, a new chapter in our life will begin. Tomorrow!" Returned Maro by putting her left hand on Ora's shoulder for a brief time before they returned to their routine.

"Do you remember when I first found this place?" Said Ora. She had now stopped bending the water again and was staring coldly into the distance. "I once spotted it while I was on top of the canopy, trying to see if I could see the other parts of the world. But all I could see was swamp and fog" Maro stopped bending the water and started staring at Ora. Ora turned her head to look at her. "And this place"

"I fear the journey." Said Ora, finally. "I want to see the world, yes. But I also wanna survive"

"I don't wanna survive" said Maro starting to gain energy. She dramatically took a step forward towards the pool. "I wanna live!" She exclaimed, looking dead into the sky while opening her arms as though the sky would give her freedom and that she was ready to embrace it. Ora looked down into the pool. "Shall we move on to the next form?" asked Maro while turning around to face Ora.

Ora nodded. They both stepped into the pool towards the center, for this part of it was an easy slope, and they found where they would begin to practice the next technique, and the one after that and the one after that, and eventually the sun would go down, and the girls would lose track of time. They would go back to the encampments, and everyone would be sleeping. And they would silently crawl into bed fall asleep.

"Wake up sleepyhead!". Maro opened her eyes. The swamp came into formation around her. Rain could be heard beating down upon the branches and the leaves of the canopy, but the inhabitants on the swamp would never be blessed with raindrops because the rain would just flow along the branches and down the trunks. The swamp came into focus and so did her mum as she stood over her. Her dad could be seen in the background as well as many other encampments above and below all waking up getting ready for a hard day of doing nothing but being spiritual.

"Happy birthday!" They said together as Maro sat up, now smiling as mum passed a plate of gecko meet, water chestnuts and lotus leaves to Maro.

"You stayed up late last night. Didn't you?" asked dad. But mum did not give time for a reply.

"We had some cranberries prepared for you too. But they seem to have disappeared"

Maro took the plate of her and ate some of the lotus leaves.

"Thanks mum and dad!" she said.

"Tik… Wik… you wouldn't happen to know anything about that… would you?" asked dad as the twins got out of their separate beds.

"No" Said Wik. But Tik was quick to intervene.

"I'll bet Maro took them when she came here yesterday when she should have meditating!"

"TRAITOR!" shouted Maro. "We had a deal!"

"So that's why I didn't see you after meditation.." said dad.

"HA! See! You didn't even go back!" said Tik. Wik slyly stole some meat of Maros plate and made off with it.

"You didn't know that! You're still a traitor!"

"Am not!"

"QUIET!" shouted dad. "You did go back on your word, if this is true, Tik"

Maro pointed at Tik. "See!"

"We'll discuss _your_ punishment later" said mum as Tik started laughing devilishly.

But Maro smiled back even more devilishly. "You can't punish _me_. _I'm_ sixteen. _I'm_ an adult. _I_ have independence"

"That is true. Well in that case, from tomorrow onwards enjoy living in you own encampment by yourself" said mum.

"And don't bother coming to _us_ for food…" said dad.

"That's ok. By tomorrow, I won't even be here any more"

"Oh, you still have that imbecilic idea about going to the North Pole?" said mum.

"You realise when you nearly die and decide to come home, we won't be here for you" said dad.

Maro remained calm and kept her wits upon herself. "That's ok because I won't be coming back". And that statement marked the end of that conversation as silence took it's place for the rest of the morning.

Maro finished her food and was about to leave to pay Ora a visit at her encampment, when Maro's mother put her arm on her shoulder.

"I know I can't stop you from trying to go. But please, I beg you. Try and make your way to the Southern Water tribe instead. It's much shorter, you're much more likely to survive…" but Maro cut off her mother as she saw Ora coming in the distance.

"Oh look, there's Ora. We'll be off now. Bye!" she said as she ran off, so as not to give her mother a chance to reply.

Maro jumped down the vines and onto the earth where she ran towards Ora. Ora smiled and hugged her.

"Happy birth…" but Ora was cut off as Maro grabbed her arm.

"Come now, we are going to see Briche" she said as she ran off still grabbing Ora.

"Listen, Maro, I've been thinking" she said as she ran trying to catch her breath.

"Again? What about this time?"

"Let's go to the South Pole instead!"

Maro stopped running.

"It's so much closer, we could actually survive that journey!"

"Huh… Have you been in cahoots with… Oh never mind"

"Why not?" whined Ora.

"Because there are no waterbenders there. Because there is no society there. Because there is nothing for us there!" She paused. "Listen, I never thought I would say this about anything, but we're better off staying here than going _there_ …"

"Alright" said Ora as the girls continued to walk to Briche's encampment.

Mr Briche was a wise old man. His face was deformed and wrinkled of age, his wife left long ago. Throughout his lifetime he had come into possession of many trinkets from the outside world, but there was only one in particular that Maro was currently interested in.

"Good morn' youn' ladies. Now who d'we 'ave here…" asked Briche as they arrived at his encampment. He bent over to take a closer look, for his eyes were starting to fail him. "Why if it ain't Ora n' Maro! Been years since I've seen _ya_ Maro. How old are ya now?"

Maro smiled. "Sixteen".

"What!? Since when then?"

Maro now blushed. "Since today sir" she said softly.

"Wow! Happy birthday t' ya!" he said with a gigantic grin. "Now how can I be helpin' ya ladies today?"

"We would like to take a look at your world map sir" said Maro.

"Map? Hmmmm…. I… ahhh..."

"You told me Beeka gave it to you" said Ora.

"Why yes indeed! Hang on a sec…" He opened up a chest full of scrolls and pulled one out tied by a red ribbon. He gently took the ribbon off and rolled it out on the earth, his hands trembling as he did so.

The ladies leant in to take a close look at the frail old but bright and colourful parchment paper presented before them.

[inset map picture here]

"Look, here is the plan" started Maro. "We follow the coast and swim across passages every now and then to save time. By the time we reach here we will have to go north without the help of the coast. We just need to make sure we walk in the right direction for the north coast of… this place" She pointed to The Rift and Namal respectively, but she could not name them for she did not know how to read.

"But how will we get to the North Pole from the coast to the pole? We can't swim that far"

"We can work a bit and pay someone to take us by boat from that city on the coast. I'm sure there is a port there… Right?"

And then Briche's voice interrupted them: "Listen, Maro, since it's ya birthday, and since I may end up gone any day now, I want you to 'ave the map"

Maro lit up with joy. "What!? Really sir?"

"Why ya! It's is a birthday present from for you!" he said with a smile. Maro hugged him. "Feel free to come and see me any time you like"

"Thank you so much sir" Said Maro.

"Yes, thank you indeed, sir!" Said Ora.

And Ora rolled up the map and placed the ribbon back on as they walked away. Fate was on the two young ladies' doorstep, and nothing would make it wait.

"Come now" Said Maro. "There's something I wanna to show you".

The ladies walked far through the swamp, to where there was no more encampments and no people to be found. Maro found the bush she was looking for after a short while.

Ora could not help but see something in this bush. It was different from the others, it seemed to have a different colour. Such an occurrence was very strange and very rare in the swamp. Upon further examination, Ora realised that the bush was dead. Perhaps it had severed itself from the rest of the banyan? In any case, Maro lifted the branches to reveal 2 backpacks made from twigs and leaves and well as 2 wide brim hats also made from leaves. The leaves of the swamp are large thick and sturdy. Many things in the swamp are made from them. Maro opened one backpack and put the map inside.

"You stay here. I'll bring the blankets" Said maro.

"No, let me go please. I insist"

"Alright then"

Soon after, Ora returned with 2 blankets. They each packed them in their bags, as well as some food that Maro was hoarding and began the walk to the hills which surrounded the swamp.  
But the walk was cut short by Ora.

"Stop" said Ora.

"What's up?"

"I'm… I'm not coming with you. I… I can't." She started to tremble. Her eyes shut.

"Can't what?"

"I… I… I don't want to die! I won't do it! I won't walk to my doom! I can't stand to never see my family again!" She fell down on her knees. Teers were now falling down her body.

"Fine then! Your pessimism will probably just slow me down anyway!" Said Maro as Ora started to cry.

Maro turned quickly away from her, and ran off, trembling as she ran. Tears started to come down from her own eyes as the sound of the rain felt like it was surrounding her. It felt like she was going to going to suffocate from the world closing in on her. And then… bam!

She tripped. Quickly using her arm to protect her head, she softened the blow, but suffered a gash going all the way down her upper arm. Blood drizzled down her arm falling onto the roots like little droplets of rain. Maro stood up angrily. 'My first test' she thought to herself. 'Onwards' she thought as she whiped the blood but still it ran down her mouth and forearm now.

And before she got to the hills with her sense given to her from the swamp vines, she cleaned herself up and made herself presentable. The hills looked big and daunting. Like guardians of the swamp. They were brown and wet, for the swamp did not climb on them. Coated in mud and sticks and rocks, Maro did not waste time before climbing them, as though was was the conqueror of these great guardians.

But alas, the guardians would fight back. Maro kept slipping as she tried to scale the hill, getting muddier and muddier. She would fall on rocks and they would dig into her. Nonetheless, she could now see the peak, and the sunlight coming over it. She placed her hand over the peak and said "Now is the next chapter in my life!" a tear falling down her face.


	2. Chapter 2 - The Start of Society

There were times when Maro would climb as high as she could through the canopy of the swamp, only to be disappointed with the sight of nothing but tree tops and the hills which surrounded the swamp and kept all the water and the life forms of the swamp captives within. Never did Maro imagine the day where she would be on top of one of these hills looking across out into her freedom. Alas, that day would be today. The climb upon the mountains was a treacherous one, but nothing the young lady could not handle on her own.

So, without further ado, she made the final stretch onto the hills peak and climbed up to meet her fate. When finally she hit the peak, awaiting her was the most awe striking site she had ever witnessed to that day. Bewildered, she took a minute to take it all in, and yet another moment it realise what she was to do with it.

To the east, lay the coast of which she had planned her journey around. Taking in the ocean was something particularly difficult, for to bare witness on such a body of water without any obstructions was such a contradiction to what Maro was used too. Being raised in a swamp, meant water was everywhere, but the only idea she had of water was the one she had been given by the swamp itself.

Directly north lay grasslands. Rocky and terrain with the occasional small cliff here and there and every now and then lay a tree or some bushes.

In the very distance Maro though she could see a village. 'That has to be my first destination' she thought. Conveniently enough, to the west lay a thin stream that looked like it would go to the village. Maro assumed it was her best bet to follow the stream, because it did not look like the coast would take her to her newly decided temporary destination.

The northern hill face was smooth, laced with grass rather than mud and sharp rocks like on the other side. Maro took one of the large swamp leaves from her backpack and smiled as she placed it on the ground, while hopping onto it.

The ride was sensational. The wind in her her, the sun coming down on her, the rush of the speed. When Maro hit the bottom, she roared with laughter and joy until she could no longer muster any breath. A final tear was shed for Ora as she got her swag together and began her way to the stream.

'This is no waterway...' she thought to herself as she finally made it. It was now around midday and despite all that walking and not having eaten anything that day, she was still energised. And she was right too, this indeed was no waterway. This was a river. And if the moon could make some of the waterways in the swamp flow, then by the spirits, it could make the rivers flow. Such power presented in the water had never been seen by this young lady. She walked by the stream as it plowed through itself, causing currents so strong, it looked like it could have swept away everyone in the swamp all at once.

After walking along side of it for sometime with admiration, Maro was struck with an idea. This idea which was sparked by a lone branch witnessed floating down the river at a high pace. She continued walking along the river collecting large sticks and carrying them along with her. After she deemed she had enough she separated them into two piles and tied them up with vines, along with the leaf she used to get down the hill, neatly lined up between the two piles. She had now constructed herself a little raft.

She grabbed it from either side and held it up in front of her. She took a couple of steps back, and then with a run up, she jumped into the roaring river, face first with the raft underneath her.

She let out a high pitched shriek as she hit the water and was pulled with the force of an angry parent down the river. Terrified out of her wits, her heart raced as the tips of her fingers started to ache from latching onto the raft so hard. She was too scared to keep her eyes open, but to scared to close them, ripping down the river at speeds she never even thought where possible, the world around nothing but a blur. After what seemed like an eternity of being swept away, her worst nightmare came to play before her eyes.

Rapids. Large sharp rock sticking their way in the path to try and account for a difference in land height. There was no time to think, let alone act and yet that didn't stop Maro from letting go of the raft and waving her arms in front of her in the attempt to waterbend the raft to her will. The raft did in fact turn around, however, it kept its course the same, resulting it to smash itself directly into one of the rocks ahead. Maro was thrown as full force at the pile of sticks which bound the raft as it too was thrown onto the rocks. Large cracking noises could be heard by Maro, but the next thing she knew was total darkness.

It seemed like she was just floating around in the darkness, waiting for her to be transported into whatever came after death. And it came. In fact, in stated tugging on her legs. This made Maro uneasy and she struggled against it, but as she did so, she found that she no longer was able to breathe and starting to feel pain in her ears and nose. The pulling succeeded as she was brought out. The world once again came into focus around her. Could this be a new life? No… The river came into focus and so did the net that was stretched out across it. As she was dragged across the land she started punching and kicking the air while coughing violently.

"Calm down now… You'll choke" said a deep male voice from above. Maro took his advice and started tried to calm down, still coughing out all the river water left in her system. She sat up and vomited into the ground. Maro tried to catch a glimpse of the person who saved her, but he was already at the river.

"This raft thing of yours in going to kill the fish!" He said with a hearty chuckle at the end as she retrieved all the tangled bits of sticks and leaf from the net.

"S-So-..." said Maro, but she was cut off.

"'Was only fooling around. You just make sure you're alright and get all that water out of ya" said the man who was big, burly and hairy, looking like he could have been in his late 30s. He was wearing battered, torn up clothes that were stained with dirt and filth. His hair was short and as black as the night.

"What's going on here then?" Said another male voice from behind the the lady. She turned around to see another burly man, only taller. From the front she could see his deep brown eyes and wearing the same kind of clothes and the first man. His skin was black from drit and muck, so it's true shade was hard to determine, although he looked to be around the same age..

"I think I found our solution" said the first man.

"What? She's so small…"

"So is Matts. And anyway, we don't really need a big one for this"

Maro mustered the energy to get up on her feet. As she did so she found that her chest and neck started to ache dearly.

"I'm sorry about any trouble I've caused. I'll just be on my way th-" she started coughing uncontrollably. Each cough was agony to her now frail neck. The first man came closer to her.

"You're not going anywhere in your condition" he said firmly looking up at her for he was slightly shorter than she was despite his brawn. "I insist ya come to my house. 'ave a spare bed ya can sleep in"

Maro examined her surroundings for the first time. It now seemed like she was in the heart of the village, for there were wooden buildings everywhere and people and carts walking along a dirt road parallel to the river. Houses and shops and markets and wanderers moving around, getting on with their daily routine, but only on the east side of the lake, for that's where the village stopped.

Maro tried to muster a reply but failed and instead collapsed on the ground losing her consciousness.

For the third time on this adventure, the world around Maro came into focus as she woke up. But this was no world, this, was a room. Softness of such as bed was unknown to Maro as she hurled her blanket onto the other side of the room and leapt out of her bed. She was feeling quite a bit better now. She examined her body to assess any damages. The first thing that came into mind was the scabs left behind on her left forearm from when she fell in the swamp. They were about healed now. On the bed Maro noticed some blood stains. Although her neck suffered the most pain, some of which was still echoing now, no exterior damage was to be found upon it. On her chest, right above her right breast, lay is whole bunch of bleeding scratches and one really deep cut leaning to her center, and to the young lady's absolute horror, there was a small thin string curling up around her cut. Eeeeek! She shuddered just looking at it. She took her hand and tugged on it to see if it would come out, but it just felt super surreal, like there was a tiny little elbow leach inside of her. She decided the best thing to do would be to just ignore it.

Blood was stained upon her silly excuse for clothes, most of which become torn and she was pretty revealed. The door creaked as she opened it. Maro took a moment to appreciate that someone had built this house while her eyes scanned their surroundings and all the details became apparent. In Maro's entire experience, such an intricate structure was astonishing and utterly profound.

"This way honey" came a gruff female voice from the right side of the corridor. While Maro had no idea why the voice would be called for honey to come, she thought she might go and find out what the deal with that was. She walked along the narrow corridor of rosewood admiring every door she passed as she made it to a large room with a table, some chairs and the source of the voice.

"Oh dear, that river fucked you up something good" said the woman. She looked like she was in her late thirties, with a long narrow face white flushed out eyes.

"You've been out cold for a solid day" She continued. "Please siddown, help yourself".

On the table there was a variety of different meats and vegetables, as well as something which Maro had only ever heard about and always wanted to eat. Bread.

It was at this point when Maro had realised how truly hungry she was. She had figured that is her body was trying to signal how hungry she was, the signal may as well have been an earthquake. Or at least, that's how it felt. Maro quickly took a plate, and before filling it she said "Thank you so much for looking after me. If you didn't pull me out of that river I would have died"

"Hush now… Eat"

Maro smiled warmly at the woman as she started to nom on the exotic variety of a meal that was on her plate. Meats from things that she had never even seen before let alone tasted, and the warm bread which went spectacularly with the meat was treat of it's own.

"You dropped this on your little trip here. It was the only thing in the wreckage that we could recover. This is real good quality with its oil paints… Kept the water right out" she laughed softly and put the world map on the table, still neatly sealed with it's red ribbon.

"My name is Fay and my husband who saved you is Takip" said the strange woman. "Welcome to Forgaway. We are a small mining village a couple of days away from Omashu."

"Mining?" said Maro with interest. But then, the door opened, and in came Takip.

"Yes mining" he said in his deep voice. How he heard what was being said, Maro would never know. His skin was now clean so Maro could see the light shade of brown that it was. He was carrying his pickaxe, which he put up on a hook next to some other pickaxes. Through the open door Maro could see more houses and brown skinned people as they walked on by. Takip closed the door and sat down.

"My name is Maro" She started with a firm voice. "I am a traveler, but I am out of money right now". Maro thought it would be a good idea to hide her swamp origins.

"You have a very interesting way of _traveling_ " said Takip and then Maro blushed and compressed herself in her seat.

Takip sat himself down at the table and started filling his own plate.

"And what the spirits are you wearing?" he asked, taking a good look at Maro.

"My clothes did not survive my journey here. I had to improvise on the way"

"I've never seen leaves so big before" said Takip

"Where are you headed to, anyway?" asked Fay

"The Northern Water Tribe" replied Maro with confidence.

"Well you can't leave here with clothes like _that_ …" said Fay.

"That right. You can work in the mines. We pay handsomely for good work, and there happens to be a couple of openings right now" said Takip.

"Well that sounds great!" said Maro happy that it was this easy for her to find a job. "But what's a mine?" She asked.

Takip laughed. "From an isolated place eh? Well, mining is the start of society, you see"

"Oh spirits, not this _lecture_ again" said Fay rolling her eyes as she ate.

Takip ignored her. "Mining is where the cycle of money starts. People receive money for providing goods and services and also give their money to receive such things as well. The mines are a large network of tunnels that we built and dig in order to obtain the precious metal from which money is formed."

"I see. And you want me to help you dig?"

"Errrrr… No. You're much too small for that. Mining is really tough work, even for large people like me. That's why not everyone can do it and why not everyone can just make tonnes of money strait up. Here's the thing though, maintaining a mine requires more than just mining it. I want you to help build the scaffolding that keeps the mine walls from collapsing. It's just putting up wooden boards and nailing them together"

"Sounds good to me" said Maro optimistically and smiled.

"Great. You can start when you feel up to it, and stay here until then"

And so, the sun set and rose again, and a new day came. Maro got up from her blood stained bed and went with Takip into the mines and learned how to build and maintain the scaffolding of the tunnels.

"Are you sure you're ready to start? I think you need to do a bit more recovery"

Maro agreed with Takip's statement. "Maybe, but I'd really rather start"

"Why so eager? Rest up!"

"As much as I value your hospitality, I find it hard to swallow knowing that I haven't earned it"

All the hammering and carrying the boards and nails around was tough work for Maro. And she always tried to stay out of the way of the miners. Witnessing the earthbenders loading and carrying the minecarts along the rails was always a particular treat. She loved to observe how different earth bending was to water bending. However, she was slow at her duty and as a couple of days went by she decided she needed some over time.

When the town had gone to sleep and the moon came out, Maro rose from her bed, grabbed her torch and treaded down deep into the mines to where she was building the scaffolds. But on the way something most interesting and unexpected happened. She was at an intersection carrying some boards, nails and her hammer trying to remember which way she needed to go, when a man came up from behind her. He was startled as she quickly turned around.

"Hello" she said wondering what his business was at this hour. He was a young man, about 3-6 years older than Maro. He had a handsome face glowing in the torchlight which hazel eyes and short hair, as black as the night. He was carrying a pickaxe.

"Do you have unfinished work here too?" She asked.

He nodded and shuffled into the middle of the 3 terminals while Maro had just remembered to take the left. Never again did she see the man in the mines nor did she never talk about it.

The days went by as Maro worked proficiently in the mines, especially now that she had a proper understanding of intricacies the carpentering work. She lived in the village like a local, always exchanging greetings with the folks and discussing gossip. She used her mine money to buy proper clothes which made her look like a true earth kingdom citizen, except for her skin tone, which was otherwise a dead giveaway. She bought a compass, and Fay had taught her how to use it. She bought a new backpack, more or less the same size of her own makeshift one, but with more compartments. Eventually she moved out of Takip and Fay's house and started staying in an inn in the center of town, where she would pay her own board. The men and women of the village loved to spend afternoons in the inn, drinking, singing and discussing gossip. She even started to learn the names of the caravan traders who stopped by as well as the cartmen who would transport gold into Omashu in return for properly fashioned money as well as other goods. Maro once tried the ale that the villagers drank and decided she never wanted any of that again. As the nights grew older the men grew more weary but also more lively. She started to learn the songs and joined in with the songs and the conversations. She heard all sort of rumors, such as the one about the underground earth rumble pit and the one about how the mines would mine themselves and the gold piles would sometimes rise in between days. They had named the spirit which would do this for them Benyi, and they loved Benyi and treated him as their own. Of course, no one has ever seen or heard from Benyi, he was just a Forgaway Legend that was pretty new. People however had knows those who would earn some kind of respect through the illegal fights in the pit. As well as all that, she also heard news from Omashu, which was apparently a big city. They had some fire nation diplomacy issues there, but that didn't really interest Maro and figured it wasn't a big deal anyway since the 100 year war ended before she was born. She made friends with many in Forgaway and heard many stories about the world. People who used the be soldiers and those who traveled the world seeking glory. Just like the villagers in the inn Maro grew weary and lively over the course of her stay at Forgaway. Finally the social life was hers to cherish and eventually she would be let into a local secret and got to see matches in the pit. But not once did she lose sight of her bigger picture. In fact, she started to form such bonds of the villagers that she did not want to leave, and It was at this point she realised she had to do it now. And so, she chose to leave without saying goodbye to anyone, thinking that this would be the most efficient way.

It was a sunny afternoon, similar to the one that she had came to Forgaway on. The villagers were getting along on their day and Maro, who was supposed to turn up to the mines that day had her bags packed and ready to go. She Walked along the village traveling north east until she was stopped by Takip. She stood idly just staring at him and him at her. After a long silence he finally said something. "So that's it then? You got what you needed and you're off now"

"Come now, it's not like that. I couldn't bare to say goodbye to anyone" she said.

"Don't worry. You owe us nothing"

"No, I owe you everything" she said, tears starting to form in her eyes

"I told you many stories Maro. But there was one I neglected" He started

"Fay and I used to have a son, you see…" And so he started telling a story about a boy with hazel eyes and hair as black as night who was not quite the strongest, but what he lacked in strength, made up for in witt. Takip spoke of him as though he had died long ago but as it happened, he was excommunicated from his family for failing to live up to the expectations of his father (amongst other mistakes).

Ever since Maro came to the village she had never really stopped crying about anything. About injuries in the mine, about memories of her past and even about sad stories she would hear from the villagers. But to see Takip starting to shed tears himself was indeed unheard of. And yet here it was, happening before her.

Takip had never since seen his son again. He spoke of how taking care of Maro was his own way to making up for the fact that he failed his own son. He said that if he could take back his decision, he would do so instantly.

He told the story with such detail and emotion, that by the time he had finished up, darkness already fell on the world.

"It's night time already. Won't you stay one more night and leave in the morning?" he said, not stuttering as he spoke anymore.

"I'm afraid I can't bare to bring myself to see the village folk once again, Takip. I will travel through the night. But can you please do me one last favour"

"Anything"

"I think I left a beam in the east wing unstable. Could you fix it up for me before morning?"

Takip smiled. "Right away. Oh and if you ever see him, send him my way" he said as he hugged Maro and she turned around, walking off into the night, not daring to look back


	3. Chapter 3 - The Lizzard Man

The fire sizzled and crackled gently as Maro lay by it staring up into the stars. Yet another thing to add to the countless list of things Maro could not experience from the swamp. And slowly, the stars started to vanish under a navy blanket of clouds covering the sky. Maro had been traveling for about 2 weeks ever since she left Forgaway, and was fairly close to her next destination now. People from the inn at Forgaway told stories about this town. It was a tourist town named Larone, famous for its luscious beaches, hospitable accommodation and vibrant carnivals. The map didn't show where the towns, cities and villages are, nor does it show landmarks, so estimating how close she was was hard, but she reckoned she had about 1 or 2 days travel to go before she was there. The fire continued to burn while her eyes slowly shut, preparing for sleep, however, she was interrupted by a cold metallic feeling on the back of her her neck.

Quickly she opened her eyes, her heart now racing. Before her a silhouette of a man came into focus.

"Gentle now" said the silhouette's soft, deep voice. "Let's get a good look at you"

The man dragged her to the still burning fire while keeping is short sword firmly at her neck. He grabbed her by her shirt to lift her up in front of the flames. Now she could see him properly. He had long dark grey hair that came down past his left eye and over his shoulder blades. He had a very defined jaw line, but most distinguished of all, he had a tattoo that started both above and below the left side of his right eye, came together at the right side and continued down over his temple and past the bottom of his right ear.

Maro thought about offering her coin purse so that he would let go of her, but then realised that there were many of them and that they probably had a different motive. He let go of Maro.

"I'm so very sorry" he said retaining his soft deep tone. "I"m looking for a woman matching your description" he continued. "However, she has the same tattoo as us. What are you doing on your own all the way out here?"

"I'm a traveler"

"Really now? And where did you come from?"

"Forgaway"

"Funny, I don't recall ever seeing _you_ there…"

But then came another voice, not quite as deep from one of this man's followers:

"Now's not the time for chit chat. For all we know, she could have reached The Swamp by now"

"Right. If you see a woman like that be sure to tell anyone you ever see with this tattoo. There is a pretty reward for her. But only alive you see. That's very important" said the first man to Maro.

"Hurry up now!" said a woman amongst the fellowship "You know she wouldn't be so stupid as to sleep by an open fire in the night anyway" and with that they all marched off into the blackened night, south for the swamp.

'That was strange' thought Maro. She could almost have sworn they were wearing water tribe attire...

Maro sat up in front of the fire, the shock from the whole ordeal still fresh in her bones and muscles. Shivering and now nearly paralysed, she found the courage to fall asleep on the open night, only extinguished the fire first. Larone was awaiting.

After about half a day's walk, Maro arrived at the top of a vibrant green hill amongst the meadows, from which she could see Larone. If Witnessing Forgaway was astonishing, witnessing Larone was bewildering. The town was simple massive, with it's huge multi-level stone structures and houses, wide open spaces and intricate roads and paths. The waves coming in out out of the beach welcome site to Maro's child like eyes. The town stretched out into horizon so that Maro could not even see the end of it. She walked down along the hill and into the bright and lively town. Even the clouds were clearning up now.

Everyone seemed to be so happy. There were street performers juggling and stalls along the streets selling all sorts of exotic good and foods. People pointing and laughing, couples and families all gathered around under the bright white clouds that were now hiding the sky. Posters covered the walls and lamp post on the streets of events that were being held in the theaters and the tents and the beach.

"Mummmmmyyyyy! I wanna go see the Lizard Man" said in infant girl tugging on her mothers pants as she bought a fine painting from one of the stalls.

"Yes, yes, we're going"

"We're gonna be late!" said the other infant girl

"Alright, we're going! We're going" said the mother as she left with her husband.

Maro was intrigued by this Lizard Man. She knew that animals came in crosses like so, but never people. Perhaps this was another new phenomenon worth experiencing that could only be found outside the swamp? She followed the family around the booming streets when finally the came to flat area covered in grass. A small stage lay at the back while logs for people to sit on where starting to fill up. A brightly coloured pink and cyan fence surrounded the area with a man collecting entrance fees manning a gate right behind all the benches. Maro stood in the queue until she met him.

"How much just for me to see the Lizard Man?"

"One copper"

She handed him a small coin shaped in the earth kingdoms symbol. It was round and the faces were painted green with a square hole in the middle. Het let her in and she took a seat, right in the front row on the left hand side. People mostly filled up all the seats while Maro eagerly awaited to see this 'Lizard man'. The sun set on the right hand side of the stage, causing a brilliant orange horizon to span itself around the town. A small lady took her place on the stage.

"Ladies and gentlemen" she announced as the crowd eased into a hush. "Throughout the history of world, animals have always crossed with each other, but never humans. This was a mystery that continues to puzzle zoologists even today, but despite that, nothing is more puzzling to _anyone_ than what you are about to witness with your very own eyes!" She made dramatic arm movements and walked around the stage as she gave her little speech. Tensions began to spread amongst the crowd as she spoke. A smile even started to form itself on Maro's own face.

"Ladies and gentlemen, on behalf of Larogo Laray circus, it is my great honour to introduce to you today….. THE LIZARD MAN!" She said finally as she walked backwards off the side of the stage with her arms indicating to the back of the stage, where a dark figure could now be seen getting larger and larger.

The Lizard Man now stood proudly upon the stage, his body facing the audience while his head was staring off into the sunset on the right. His skin was a murky shade of navy blue and medium grey. He was a fat bald man, with a large head. He was wearing nothing but a rag as underwear, coloured in the same scheme as his body. His fingernails were really long, which kind of reminded Maro of her fingernails before she cut them shortly after leaving the swamp. The most intriguing thing about this Lizard Man however, was his long, lizard-like tail.

He got off the stage at the front, showing off to the crowd from up close. He moved his tail freely while the crowd ooo'd and ahhh'd, but Maro was less than impressed.

"Your just a man with paint all over your body!" she said to him as he got close to her. The crowd went payed no attention despite maro knowing people had heard her. The Lizard Man did not fret from this comment and continued on with his act. He looked maro in the eye and pushed his tongue out of his mouth, which extended down a couple of centimeters down from his chin. The crowd wow'd and clapped, but Maro narrowed her eyes and cringed with her face, still not knowing what all the fuss was about. In response, she stuck out her own tongue, which proved to be even longer than The Lizard Man's. The crowd who could see gasped at Maro's freak tongue, but soon forgot as The Lizard Man continued to blow their minds with his act.

After The Lizard Man had finished, he took and bow and the benches began to clear themselves. The crowd began to murmur amongst themselves about the amazement they had from the show as they flowed out the back of the performance area through the gate where Larogo Laray Circus flyers were being handed out. Maro stood up from her bench, her backpack lay heavy. The sun had sunk into the mountains leaving the cool night air behind. Just as Maro turned around to leave, she felt a tapping on her shoulder. She turned around to be greeted by the announcer woman.

"The Lizard Man said he wanted to speak to you about something" she said as she pointed to the stage, shrugged and then walked away.

The stage was empty, and Maro climbed up onto it to see a large silhouette sitting down on it's back. She walked across the stage where The Lizard Man was waiting for her. Maro's heard started to thump furiously with fear. She had tried to expose him after all, maybe he was mad.

An image rolled it's way into Maro's mind. An image of a ferocious river sweeping Maro down at colossal speeds, her trajectory perfectly inline with a giant Lizard Man, a stretched out smile across his face revealing huge pointy teeth and a ten meter tail splashing across the liver bed as Maro was forced helplessly to be rammed right into him. She could not bare to image the unspeakable things that he could do to her for what she did to him.

"Sit down" he said, and although his tone was easy enough, it was still enough to frighten Maro as she let out a short high-pitched screech from her jump-scare. This was the first time she had heard him speak, and his voice was not as deep as she imagined it to be.

"Come now… I'm not gonna eat you" he said patting the stage as an invitation for Maro to sit down. While it seemed now that he was not really mad, Maro still shivered as she sat down, keeping her guard up.

"You got me" he said. He turned his head to look at her and smile. "But you do realise why we have such tongues, yes?" He asked. Maro shook her head slowly. "Why it's because we're from the Foggy Swamp!" he said and laughed a little bit. Maro was shocked by this development. She didn't even believe it.

"But why?" she said. She felt more at ease now.

"Do you know the story about the survival of the first men in the swmp?"

"Yes, of course" said Maro. The stories about the swamp and it's people where the only resemblance the swamplanders had to a proper culture apart from the essentially meaningless and desperate religion they preached and brainwashed each other with.

Maro continued. "The first men who arrived at the swamp where nomads. They tried to live in the swamp for a while, but could not find their way out. They slowly began to die out as anything they tried to eat proved to be poisonous. They did not realise the swamps offerings. Eventually, some of them found that she could survive on the sap from the great roots and trunks on the swamp, however, the only for them to obtain this sap was to create holes, which would harm the swamp and so over time the learned how to differentiate between what they could eat and what they would not eat"

"That's not quite it. You see, they had to poke holes in the roots and the trunks, yes, but the only way they could get the sap out was by using their tongues. Only the ones with the longer tongues could reach the sap and so the ones with the shorter tongues died out due to their lack of access of benign food. The ones with the longer tongues lived on and passed down their tongues so that the next generation could live as well"

"I see. And what about the tail"

He smiles and unclipped the belt that went around his waist that was covered by his underwear and kept the tail up. He took it off carefully and showed Maro that it was hollow and filled with water.

"Ah! That's clever!" said Maro "It's also immoral"

"What? No it's not…"

"Yes it is. You're making money by tricking people. You should be ashamed"

"HA! Anyone who is dumb enough to believe this act deserves to be stripped of their money. You may have fell for it this time, but I can tell, you won't again… will you? And what do you know about money anyway?"

"I know enough to know that that's a dishonest way of making it"

"Why do you care so much?"

"You know what the swamp is like, right? You know how they indoctrinate you into their bullshit lifestyle? Well I had enough of doing nothing but meditating all day. They teach you the world is intereconnected, and that everyone is related but yet they seclude themselves from everyone else! The hypocrites! They're so out of touch with the word for people preaching togetherness and unity. There is a whole world out there, so many places to go, so many things to do and they sit under and tree and not think about anything so that they may forget that the world goes on outside the swamp. They forget that unity is actually about being together. That being together is nothing unless you live and work together. Unless you strive for greater thing! For growth and progress! They sit there in seclusion so that they may never have to work a day in their life. So that they may never be apart of anything bigger than themselves or be useful to anyone other than themselves or ever experience anything actually worth experiencing"

"Oh yes, I know. Trust me. Let me tell you something… what's your name?"

"Maro"

"Ok Maro, let me tell you something. My reason for leaving the swamp was not quite so righteous as is yours. A traveler passed by the swamp and traded food with my family, and I got to try some fox turkey, and it was the most delicious thing I never tasted in my life. I left the swamp so that I could eat it as often as possible, and well, as you can see, I have been. HAHAHAHAHA!" He put his hands over his stomach as he laughed. Maro was not impressed. "Anyway, I quickly learned that society is tough and unforgiving. Have you been down to the beach yet?"

"No! But I plan on a swim tomorrow!"

"There is a little stand that sells this incredible thing called ice cream. When I first got here, I got a job working for a stand like that. I was paired up with a buddy to help run the stall. She ended up become a good friend of mine. Anyway, they are always looking for waterbenders to help them out. We got paid so badly, but I was fine to get around, and plus I learned immportant valuable lessons like turning up on time being reliable and working in a team. But there was another stand that also did the same thing nearby. They managed to sell their ice cream cheaper by paying their workers even less than my cart did. Naturally, people bought ice cream from there to save a couple of coppers. People didn't buy from our stand and all the people who had been paid close to nothing now where literally being paid nothing because the stand had to close down. Finding a job is not easy, especially in a place like this where everyone live to serve their role. The area around here is pretty human centric, and so providing for myself with nature like I learned to do in the swamp proved of no use. It's ironic now that I think about it. I left so that I could eat fox turkey all the time and suddenly I have nothing to eat at all. My friend and I stuck together afterwards thinking we could help each other out when needed, but she starved to death"

Maro leant back in shock. He continued. "In the swamp, everyone cares for everyone. In society it's every man for themselves. I don't know how you got this idea in your head about society being everyone working together for the great or good, but it isn't true. I'm always gonna do what I need to do to not end up like my friend, so here I am"

There was silence for a while. Maro shivered at the impact of the story as well as the cool breeze that was brought along.

"I'm sorry about your friend"

"It's ok, because now I'm doing the living for both of us"

"That was very unfortunate. However, I'm sure that society is built on the foundation of hard, _honest_ work. I'm also sure that there is always a way"

"Oh Maro, you're still fresh out of the swamp. I would tell you to go back to the swamp where everything is nice and simple, but I know you would not listen to me. I can see the adventurer's spirit in your eyes. And as such, I will suggest you keep traveling and learn what the world is _really_ like. And please don't die. Death is such an easy thing to come by out here" Maro smiled at him. "Circus Larogo Laray travels around a certain times of year. If you ever seen them around, feel free to come visit me, I would like to hear about your travels. Ask for Vinik. Anyway, it's late now, so I better get back to the tent"

"Yeah, I better be off too. Good bye, Vinik"

"Good night, Maro" had said as Maro hopped of the stage and went to exit the performance area.

The next morning arrived and was headed for the beach this time. She was eager to try what Vink had referred to as ice cream. She found the inn last night by asking around and bought herself a decent meal and a room for the night. A couple of clouds in the sky was hardly a match for today as the sun beat down vigorously upon the town of Larone and it's fine beaches. Maro stood upon a grassy hill bearing witness to the magnificent waves as they they grew tall, broke and crashed into the beach on the northern side. There was a number of people on that side of the beach enjoying the waves including a small amount of people riding them on boards made of wood. On the more southern parts of the beach more people gathered around where the waves were much smaller and hardly broke at all. The glowing pure white sand of the beach was littered by people under their umbrellas lying on towels, bathing in the warm sun's radiants.

'I'm a pretty good swimmer' thought Maro to herself as she walked down the hill. She left her shoes and bag in the inn and was wearing light clothes which she thought was best suitable for swimming in.

The afternoon broke and Maro decided she had enough of the water. She was extremely pleased with the time she spent swimming amongst the breaking waves. But as she did so, she couldn't help but think about Ora. She had known Ora for her entire life, and while spending this much time away from her family and everyone else in the swamp seemed like a blessing to Maro, spending so much time away from Ora seemed to trouble her. As though a part of her was somehow missing. But she dismissed these feelings as weakness while she was drifting along with the waves. The young lady often just relaxed and let the waves carry her, as if it didn't even matter to her where she was going because the waves knew best after all, and the definitely would not take her back to the swamp. They however take her back to the shore from where she started off.

Over the course of her trip, Maro was able to find solace through many experiences, even the ones that caused her anguish. She always felt good looking back on such memories even though she was in anguish at the time. And as she lay in the sun drying herself off on a rock on the sand (for she had no towel), she could not escape the conversation she had had with a Lizard Man not to long ago. It was echoing in her mind. And then she remembered the recommendation he made to her.

She got up, eager to find what she was looking for. And surely enough there was a stall. Maro could not read, and so she had no idea if this stall was selling what she was after, not only because of that but also because Vinik had not really described it to her, so she thought she would ask. She approached the stand and waited a bit for the queue to die down a bit so that she could converse with the one of the 2 people manning it. And surely enough, there came a time when the queue was absent.

"Why hello there! How can I serve you on this fine afternoon madam?". The one who spoke was a young lady who looked like she could have been in her early or mid twenties.

"Hi. Do you sell ice cream here?"

"We sure do" she said with a smile and a soft giggle and pointed up and the sign that was standing above the stall. "We boast the widest range of flavours too! We sell vanilla, strawberry, passion fruit, mango, lemon lime, raspberries and blueberry" she said point to each tub of ice cream with it's respective flavour inside. It reminded Maro of a rainbow she had seen for the first time on one of the rainy days she spent traveling even since she left the swamp.

"The _most_ flavours? In comparison to what?"

"Why the other stand of course" she said pointing into the distance alongside the beach. Maro used her hands to shade her eyes and squinted them, peering into the direction she was pointing. Surly enough, Maro could identify another ice cream stall along the beach.

"huh… This friend of mine once told me that once there was two ice cream stands along this beach, and that one shut down because they could not afford to make their ice cream as cheap"

"Yes! That's a true story… In fact, it was indeed _us_ who shut down all those years ago, but now we're back and competing again!"

"Really now? Wow! How can you compete with the other stand?"

"Oh it's simple really, we changed the way we made the ice cream. This new way was more expensive, believe it or not, however, it meant that we got better quality ice cream. So while our ice cream is still more expensive, people still buy from us because our ice cream is better"

Maro smiled, with Vinik in mind.

Maro bought herself an ice cream with a scoop vanilla and scoop of blueberry, only because she like the mixture of those colours. After further conversation with the lady, she found out that the stand needs waterbenders to freeze the water under the tubs so that the ice cream can remain ice cream and not liquid cream. Maro had no idea how to freeze water, and nor did she want to stay at Larone for too much longer, so she did not offer herself up for a job. Indeed she stayed one more night in the inn and started to head off the next morning along the coast, where according to her map, her next destination was a forest named Hei Bai.


	4. Chapter 4 - To The Point

The metal rails where cold to Maros touch as she leant ever them marveling at the ships taking the water passage below the bridge she was crossing. 'They're probably taking supplies from the Fire Nation to the Kolau Mountains' she thought to herself. The bridge was rather wide, having 2 paths on either side and enough space in the middle for horse carts to travel in both directions simultaneously. But on this cold gloomy day, despite all the ship traffic below, the bridge was deserted apart from Maro today. Probably because it looked like it was about to rain. Maro looked up at the sad sky. It had turned even darker since she last observed. She thought it would be a good idea to hurry along and find somewhere to sit down before the rain started.

And so she crossed the bridge into a new land she thought would be Hei Bai forest, however, there seemed to be no forest present. The ground was black and arid, as if someone has lit a huge camp fire. The young traveler could see small trees up ahead in the distance. The road it seemed, went west and Maro needed to go north, so she figured it could be up to her trusty compass and her now. She picked up her pace a little as she walked on by into the distance where she could see small trees starting to thicken up. She started wondering amongst them in the hope that she might find a place to keep dry. The sky seemed to indicated that this was necessary. Trees began getting bigger and bigger and eventually she found trees whose branches come down forming a sort of dome around the trunk. Maro heard some rustling in an area where 2 of these trees were huddled together. She pulled the branches away to go in and investigate.

Maro had never seen trees like this before. The had many branches and all twisted around each other like the end of a rope that had come undone. Inside looked spacious and cosy. So cosy in fact, that the 2 joint domes had made a home for a woman with long, light brown hair, dark brown skin, blue eyes and a strange tattoo around her right. It started raining hard, but Maro was now sheltered.

"Oh hello there… A bunch of people where looking for y…." but Maro could not finish her sentence because now realised that there was a long sword with a red handle which had gone into the left hand side of her stomach and come neatly out the back. The last thing Maro remembered before total darkness was the woman, who looked like she was in her early thirties pulling the sword out of there swiftly.

Maro regained consciousness. At first she was completely numb, and then realised the soft feel of the bed she was sleeping in. The next thing she come to realise was excruciating pain. She had yet to open her eyes, but started to roll around, desperately trying to find a comfortable position to ease the pain. She started to moan in her bed, her eyes shut tight, every second wishing that the next would allow either pain would either stop, or that her life finally end. But the pain did not stop and nor did her life end. She cried and cried until she could no longer keep her mouth open and her pillow became drenched. And then a voice came from the distance.

"Oh you're awake now! Hiiiiiiiiiiii!". It was a male voice, which was rather high pitched. It continued as it came closer slowly. "Oh deary deary. Stop struggling now, you're going to undo your bandages! Come now, come now. It's alright, it's ok". He was right next to her now. "Can you open those little eyes of yours? Yes? No? You know you don't talk much for someone who makes so much noise! Please look here, I brought you a present! Yes!"

Maro fell silent. She opened her eyes to find a large bright white haze slowly form into defined lines and figures. The large room she was in came into focus and the first striking feature of it were the beds that lay everywhere, all of which but one where empty right now. The man stood beside Maro's bed, a tray lay in his hand. Still breathing fast, she tried to sit up. The man put the tray on the desk by her bed. He was moderately old man with white hair and deep brown eyes. He handed her the cup with both his hands.

"Medicine! It's good stuff! Our speciality, in fact" He said with a beaming smile as Maro took the cup. Inside was a fluorescent turquoise liquid. It was translucent and smelled sweet, but in a very unusual way. "Drink! Drink!".

Maro's eyes started to sting from the light around her. This was easily overshadowed by the pain from her stomach. She put the cup to her lips and took a sip. She wondered if it was a good idea to be drinking when there was a hole in her stomach... The stuff went down her throat, but it was horrid; almost feeling like it was burning its way down. She coughed, and at each jerk of her torso, it felt like she was being stabbed all over again. Thick tears started once again to muster themselves under her now bright red eyes. The man took the cup away from her and put it back on the tray on the desk. "It's ok. You can finish it later. But please do finish it for your sake" he said as he took the bowl and handed it to Maro. "Fox turkey soup!" he said as he put a spoon and 2 chopsticks in the soup. "You must be hungry! Yes, yes!". And hungry she was, though despite this fact, trying to put something into her stomach gave her a very unsettling feeling. She mustered some courage with the help of her hunger and after a bit of a wrestling match, managed to get the noodles down there. The meet followed quickly and later the broth end up there too. Questions such as who was that woman, what did the tattoos mean, why were those people looking for her and most importantly, why did she stab me continuously flowed through her mind, though her concentration was often broken by agony. After she had finished the hot soup, she spoke for the first time since she arrived. Her words uttered with difficulty.

"Did you see her?"

"The one who did that to you? Nay! Nay! Ichi saw nothing! Ichi is just a humble doctor and was at work when a traveler carrying a young woman taking a nap in a pool of her own blood came from the forest! That traveler carried you back here to Hei Bai Hospital… WITH A BROKEN KNEE! It was him over there" he said and pointed to a bed all the way on the other side of the room with a ball of hair around the size of a human head poking out of a blanket. Maro took a minute to take all of this in, for it was a lot for her, not even taking into account that until now she thought all the other visible beds were empty.

"A hospital?" asked Maro. In Forgaway, they had in infirmary where all those injured in the mines and the pit would be treated for short amounts of time, but she had yet to see a proper hospital until this day.

"Yes, yes! Why, didn't you know? This hospital is famous all over the Earth Kingdom and the Fire Nation. The trees around provide many things, many things indeed! Medicine and healing is one of those things, and so the earth kingdom built a hospital here!"

"If this hospital is so famous, why is there no one else here?"

"There are! On other levels you see! this is level 6 out of 7! Look!" he exclaimed and pointed above Maro's head. The back side of the bed was pressed up against the wall, and as Maro turned around, right above her head was a window. Now she could see that they were particularly high up. She could not see much more, for it was raining heavily, but the forest was visible through the bleak white fog down below.

"You're a lucky one!" said Ichi.

"Really now? Because I don't _feel_ very lucky at all right now…"

"Oh but you are! You're lucky to be feeling _anything_ right now. Yes! For you see, the blade went through you in such an angle and position that it went right past any vital organs! Only just hitting one of your kidneys though… Don't worry about it! It's been removed! You only need one anyway!" Ichi smiled while proclaiming this and added a hearty laugh at the end.

Maro thought about this for a minute and came to the conclusion that the woman was indeed trying to kill her and that it was an accident that she was alive right now.

"Ichi will go now… Yes… Other patients need tending as well! If you need anything, pull on that long rope that goes down into the floor. Yes! Ohhhhh… And don't forget to drink your medicine! For your own sake. Ok bye now" he said as he took his leave to the staircase that was all the way on the other side of the room, taking the empty bowl with him.

Maro had already decided that when she felt up to it, she would empty the 'medicine' cup out the window. And surely enough, a couple of hours later, a time came when she was up to it a bit more, but instead of emptying out the cup, she took another sip. Still to this day, Maro had no idea why, but there was something about the medicine that made her want to drink it. Perhaps it was her survival instinct, but perhaps, it was something more, something which had to do with what was about to happen. By the time the cup was empty, Maro did not mind the taste any more. The pain was now gone, and the room had turned a vibrant red colour and started to dance in the sunlight. Men and women from Forgaway and Larone joined in on the dancing, wearing a large assortment of all sorts of bright colours, which kind of reminded Maro of rainbow she had seen not to long after she left the swamp. They were all chatting, laughing, dancing and singing like nothing else in the world mattered. Maro wanted to join in, but knew it was probably a bad idea considering her condition. Although Maro now felt happy and started laughing along with the people as they came and visited her on her bed. A gang wearing the blue eye tattoo also made a cameo at the party, but made no commotion. Maro laughed herself to sleep that night.

"GoOoOoOoOoOod morning sleepyhead!" came Ichies voice from the darkness. Maro opened her eyes to realise the stabbing pain her stomach. It was not quite as bad as yesterday. "I come baring breakfast! Fried ostrich horse eggs, yum yum!" He said in his usual bubbly tone as he put a plate down with 2 fried eggs and some bread. Maro sat up, and the pain intensified.

"Do you have any more of that medicine?"

"Ohhhhhh… You like it! I knew you would! Everyone always does! Not now though, not now. No no no, too much is bad for the health. Ironic, yes"

Maro started eating. "Do I owe you money for the food?"

"No… All hospital supplies are courtesy of Earth Kingdom taxpayers! Yes!"

Maro didn't really know how to feel about this. It seemed like anyone could just pretend that they were sick to get hospital food for free while the people who actually worked hard had to pay for them. That didn't even seem too far fetched to Maro as she remembered hearing about full scale war in Omashu while she was at Forgaway. But then again, she remembered the situation she was in right now and realised that maybe, just maybe, there were people out there who needed this care but could not pay for it. She decided not to worry herself too much with these sorts of thoughts for the time being.

Ichi took the blanket off Maro's bed.

"Hey!" she said as she began to see the red soaked bandages that were wrapped around of her.

"It's time to change your bandages. Come now! Stand please"

Maro eventually managed to get herself out of her bed and standing up again. She took off her shirt and put it on the desk, next to the empty plate.

Ichi found the beginning of the bandage and took it off, loop by loop, each one more and more painful than the last, as it got closer and close to the source. When all the bandage was finally off, Maro wiped her face off from all the tears. She looked down to examine the wound, only see see an ocean of red. It started dripping on the floor. Ichi picked up a sponge and went to another side of the room to soak it. He came back with the dripping sponge and said "Careful careful, this stings a bit… Yesss". Then he placed the sponge on Maros hip where she had been wounded softly and took it off. It was not soaked with water. He repeated this a bunch of times, each time pure agony, until finally after what seemed like an impossible amount of time, Maro was all cleaned up, and a horizontal slice in the skin was now visible. Tear drops had fallen from Maros face and mixed in with the blood on the floor. Ichi started cleaning the back of the hip now too, for the sword had made it's way to the other side of Maros body.

"You're gonna need STITCHES!" he sang now starting to put a clean new bandage on really tightly so as to let let too much blood escape. Maro did not want to get back into bed because it seemed that it hurt less standing up.

"Can I go for a walk around please? I've been in bed for a whole day…"

"Two actually, and no. It will hinder the healing process. You need to move as little as possible. Now now, hop yourself back into bed!"

Maro frowned and put her shirt back on. Ichi began walking to the wooden staircase. I'll be back in the late afternoon with some more nakman nao sap. That's the medicine, incase you didn't know. Also, your stitches will be after sunset, so prepare yourself. If you need anything, you know what to doOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo" he sang in his high pitched voice as he walked away. In the meantime Maro, now feeling up to the challenge, had a proper look out the window while she was still standing up. It was still cloudy, but at least the rain had ceased, and now she could see the soaked forrest properly. The juxtaposition of the blackened, arid field next to the flourishing forest of murky green and brown was profound to Maro as one gradients into the other. There didn't really seem to be any signs of human activity nearby that she could see. This seemed like a pretty inconvenient place to put a hospital, even if it was pretty close to some great supplies.

Later in the afternoon, Ichi came back with the sap and Maro drank it slowly, because even though it tasted horrible. There was something about it that made Maro really want to drink it. The party started again with a new assortment of guests, only this time the room was shaded a dark blue and was waving around a spinning again. Maro didn't stop laughing, even through her her stitches operation. Two doctors came to put them, Ichi didn't make any more visits to Maro that day. One of the doctors put down her dinner and told her that she was better than most patients. All the laughing made her very hungry, so dinner was a welcome sight, and that night again she laughed herself to sleep and awakened the next day to find new bandages had been put on her fresh stitches.

The next morning came, and Maro felt alright. Her wound was not really hurting that much anymore, and she was informed by one of the other nurses that she could leave this afternoon provided she came back in a week to get her stitches removed. But Maro wanted to move forwards.

"Can I get them removed anywhere else on my way?"

"Well… As it happens, Senlin is directly north from here. There is an infirmary there, you should be able to get your stitches out there I suppose"

And with that, Maro was off. She didn't get to say bye to Ichi for he was not around.

Maro wandered through the forest taking it in, but as she was walking, she couldn't help but think about the ominous room she dwelt in until today. The man in the other bed never seemed to face her or move or talk at all, even when someone came to check on him or give him food. Sometimes as night she could hear a faint sobbing noise coming from his direction, but it was too dark to see anything at those points.

The forest was different enough from the swamp. There were so many different type of plants and animals. In fact, even the colours were different as the vibrant green from the swamp was replaced with murky flushed out shades of green and brown. Even in the swamp and the roots and trunks of the banyan where a light cream colour. The young traveler was glad the rain was gone now, for the canopy here does not protect from the rain like the swamp does. Nightfall came and Maro was hungry. She had no idea how to take care of herself out here, and going to bed that night, she realised the today was the first day of her adventure when she thought about the swamp. At the swamp, no one gets smashed into rocks, or stabbed, or starved. She remembered, once when she was smaller than she is now, she was out adventuring in the swamp and found a bush. Still today, maro has no idea what it was about that particular bush that caught her attention, but it did. It was fairly large, large enough to hide in. It was surrounded by shallow water as well. Maro had spent some nights sleeping in the shallow water under that bush when her family particularly got on her nerves. She realised, that the bush did not belong to swamp. It was independant. Which was strange, because in the swamp all the trees and the plants and roots and trunks were actually one organism, and that was the banyan. This… Plant... seemed to grow in the swamp all by itself. It's fate was not tied to banyan. Maro really identified with that. Maybe that's what she saw in the bush all those years ago. But it died over time. Maro supposed that if other plants were meant to survive in the swamp they would have. The thought of the fate of this bush made Maro uneasy, but then she thought about the Northern Water Tribe. The brilliant palette of white and blue cities and wrapped around by tight communities. This thought alone was enough to drive Maro onwards, and soothing enough to place her to sleep amongst the softness of the leaves and small bushes around her.

"Wakey wakey eggs and cakey!" Came a strange voice from above. At first she thought it may have been Ichi, but then she remembered she was not in the hospital anymore, and upon further examination concluded that this voice was that of a female. Maro struggled hard to open her eyes. The world slowly came into focus around her as she lay on the forest floor with her backpack by her side, which had apparently been opened.

"HiIiIiIIIiIiIIIiiiIIIiiiIIIi" trilled the small, high pitched voice again. Margo started to a figure in the trees manifest itself before her eyes. "Hi, I'm Neren what's your name?" she spoke with energy and excitement, while she stood on a small branch while leaning her arms on another branch so that her body was almost parallel to the floor. Maro then realised that this strange little girl had been eating something from her bag; she should see it in her hands.

"Hey! You little thief!" called Maro into the trees as she started to stand up. This wiped the smile of Nerens face. She leapt off of the branch she was leaning on and immediately started climbing up faster in the direction of the canopy. Maro stretched herself and limbered up. She jumped and grabbed the lowest branch and quickly pulled herself up into the tree, but as she did so her wounds started to tremendously ache.

"Arrrgggg!" she screamed and lay down on branch, tightly closing her eyes and grabbing her left hip.

"Oh no! Are you alright?" the little girl started to climb down closer to Maro.

"I'm…" but Maro could not finish that sentence because just then, the branch she was laying on had snapped and maro shrieked as she fell and hit her back on the branch as they came in contact with the forest floor.

The next thing Maro knew, she heard a voice.

"Lady…" said the young girl in her adolescent, high pitched voice. Neren was now standing over Maro. This startled Maro and she let out a short high pitched squeal, which had startled Neren causing her to squeal and leap backwards falling over as she did so. She scurried herself back over Maro and looked as though she was feeling sorry for herself.

"I'm sorry I took your food. It's back now! Please tell me your name"

'Fucking spirits' thought Maro grubled.

Now Maro could examine her properly. She had a round face and slightly darkened skin with freckles. Her eyes were bright vibrant green, which reminded Maro of the swamp, and she looked like she could have been around ten years old. Her hair was long, not as much as Maros however, and it was wavy. But what was most intriguing about this young girl was the colour of her hair. It was not brown or dark or grey. It was shiny and golden. Maro had been in many masses since she left the swamp, and no one she had ever seen had hair that colour. When people become old, they get white hair, but hair in such a bright yellow vibrant texture was unheard of. On her neck lay a deep purple scar that extended upwards and to the back of her neck over the left side.

"My name is Maro". She hadn't even met this person yet and she was already sick of her. Apart from her eyes, there was a particular something about her presence that reminded Maro of the swamp.

"Could you do me a favour real quick, can you stick out your tongue down all the way" asked Maro, to which Neren did so with confusion while Maro concluded that she was not of the swamp.

"You are going north, I can see" said Neren. She continued to pull her energetic speech. "Are you going to Namal?"

"Well you're a nosey little one, aren't you. What's it to you?"

And Neren started rambling on about how she how she was living in the forest with a group of forest nomads and about how the spirit Hei Bai was protecting them in the forest, but she could not leave it without help.

"Alright, alright. Hurry up, get to the point"

"I wanna travel with you. Even if you're not going Namal. I need to get there. Mother and brother are there, waiting for me"

Maro tried to sit up which caused much pain on her back. She couldn't see it, but a large gaping bruise had formed on her lower back where she had fell on the stick. Her eyes started to water.

"Please" Neren spoke fast. "I'm sorry for getting you hurt like this but I _need_ someone to help me get away from here"

While Maro instinctive response was to say no to this seemingly feral child, she couldn't help but wonder what if Maro needed someone to help her escape from the swamp? It would be a shame if Maro could not have even made it for Forgaway just because someone didn't like her very much.

Maro knew people seldom came into the swamp. Most people were afraid of it. And rightly so, from Maro's perspective, but not for the same reason. Outsiders who came into the swamp often failed to make their way out, and consequently dies, as most of the original swamp dwellers had. Generation of living in the swamp taught the new inhabitants some valuable things; primarily how to navigate around the swamp, which was a matter of feeling spirit energy in the life form of the swamp. Everyone knew how to do this, and though is how Maro found a northern exit to the swamp. Maro pictured a scenario which was not unlikely for her, of which her parents had failed to teach her these swamp navigational skilled and Maro was stranded in the swamp. She would have loved even if someone like Neren cam and brought her out. At least, this is how she would justify what she was to say next.

"I am indeed heading over to Namal. You can come with me, but you must be calm and behave yourself" said Maro, but before she had even finished Neren had started jumping and dancing around with glee, yaying.

"Oh dear" said Maro and fell back on the floor. "I have a feeling this is going to be a loooooong ride"


	5. Chapter 5 - Vengeance

Neren proved to be a nightmare up until where Maro was now. The trip to Senlin was horrid. Maro had lost track of how many times she needed to apologize for various people on behalf of Neren. She would always seem to do the exact opposite as Maro would say and constantly act feral and uncivilised. At least the people of the swamp knew when it was time to calm down. Neren seemed not to care about anything really, as if the whole world was just built as her playground. On the bright side, the operation to remove the stitches was a success, and Maro was starting to feel much better. On the dull side, Maro had spent the last of her money in Senlin. By this time, she was already way out of Hai Bai forest and mount Makapu was gaping over the two of them from the east as Maro and Neren traveled north along the coast, until the girls met something rather intriguing.

It was a wall, about 3 times the size of Maro. It had sharp metal spikes guarding it from the top. It seemed to go on forever to the east, but on the west it just followed the coast, still leaving room to travel around it.

"That's a big arse wall" muttered Maro.

"Well you haven't been to ba Sing Se yet!" She replied while doing a twirl around herself "What do you think it's trying to protect?" asked Neren, a look of confusion lay calmly on her face.

"I don't know… But look there, in the distance"

Neren glared in the western direction across the wall where Maro was pointing. "I can't see anything, Maro. Is it hiding? Is it invisible?". She gasped and shook Maros arm.

"There is a huge gate there. Maybe we can find out what's going on"

And with that, the girls followed the seemingly endless wall until they made it to the gate, and Neren ran ahead swinging her arm behind her as she did so.

'If someone is there, perhaps I can convince them I have no idea who this little one is and that she's lost?' Thought the young traveler to herself.

Maro made it to the gate which was a bit taller than the wall and was made from a red wood, decorated in steel and gold. Each door was stroked with a metal that had been painted red.

"Woooooooowwwww!" shouted Neren. Maro rolled her eyes.

"What's your business here?" came a mans voice from the heavens. His accent was strange to Maro.

Neren shrieked in surprised and fell backwards on her bum, followed by a girly laugh at herself.

The girls looked up above the gate to see a man dressed in fire nation attire staring down at them.

"We are just simple travelers. Please, what are these wall for?" Maro said loudly into the sky.

"You have reached the gates of Trajor; A great Fire Nation colony of the Earth Kingdom"

"May we enter?"

"Only if you answer my original question… What is your business?"

"We have none. We wish simply to pass though, stay in the inn and maybe shop around in the markets to replenish supplies". This was a lie of course since Maro had run out of money.

"Alright. We shall let you into Trajor. But know two things: Firstly that Fire Nation colonies are technically Fire Nation territory, so while you are here you will obey all of our laws and suffer any consequences for your actions."

"Understood"

"Very well then"

The fire nation man disappeared down into the gate which had in time, opened for the girls as they delved into a new world. The vision that was bestowed upon Maro now was really uncanny. It kind of reminded her of a meal she had once enjoyed in the inn at Forgaway. It was called beef and peppers. The buildings were like the beef for they were made from a dark stone and the people traveled around the streets in equal numbers of the green attire that was Earth Kingdom and the red and yellow attire and that was the Fire Nations, each being a different kind of pepper that colour respectively.

They walked down the streets watching as the city lived and breathed around them.

The girls explored the colony, though there was not much to find. It was dull and boring. Not really a tourist town at all. They walked along the main street where they did however find the inn, to which they returned to when the light disappeared. Neren however, seemed to find the place fascinating.

"Ohhhhhhh what's that?" was a was Nerens common proverb for every stall they passed. Maro generally ignored what Neren had to say in the hopes that it would kill off her irritating attitude, but it never did. One time one of the stall owners heard her. "Why those are carrots" the stall owner said. Nerens eyes widened up and she started to sing: "Carrots, Parrots, lonely Marrots" and then did a little twirly dance as she sang. She would often run around making lots of noise. Actually, she would make lots of noise even when she wasn't running around.

Maro would too often wonder what her deal was, and why she couldn't just be normal and civilized just like anyone else around. But Maro could only ever think of Neren as nuisance as opposed to a person. She couldn't really understand that Neren was like her in that she was just trying to make her way around. On the way here, Maro had tried to give Neren the slip and failed, but it didn't even seem like Neren had realised.

The colony itself was grey and brown. Other than the mix the attire the people were wearing, there was really nothing pleasing to the eye at all. And the fact that Maro had to walk around with Neren just made just seemed to spoil the first time experience all the more. Maro wondered where Neren even got all of her energy from. She wondered if she was like that when she was Nerens age, and then she realised she didn't even know how old Neren was but didn't really care to ask.

It was now getting dark and Maro approached the inn and opened the door slightly to see that there was some sort of commotion going on inside.

"Please, have mercy!" said an Earth Kingdom man to a Fire Nation lady behind the counter. There was another Earth Kingdom man enjoying a drink on the other side of the counter.

The lady snarked at the talking man. "You know how it is. The price to stay goes up, you gotta pay"

"No, wait! Can't you just pretend I was a Fire Nation citizen? Have kindness in your heart"

"What do you think this is? Some sort of twisted charity? Leave and hurry back when you've got the coin to pay a proper due"

"Wait…"

"LEAVE!"

And with that Maro snatched Neren and pinned her against the wall, ramming her elbow into the little girl's mouth. The door slammed open so that Maro and Neren where hidden behind it. Maro kept her elbow over Nerens mouth and decided to follow the man, for where he would sleep now they would too, since they were both in the same situation. But as she walked along in silence she could still hear the banter coming from the inn.

"Fucking Earth Kingdom scum" came the lady's voice. "No offense"

"None taken" said a new voice, and that was all Maro had heard.

The girls stalked the man through the night to a public park area that they had not seen while on their little tour of the place. He found an area within some trees and bushes to lay in for the night, but he was not alone for this was quite a popular place for the homeless, it seemed.

"Come now" Maro said to Neren. "We gotta find our own little place like that"

The park was rather eerie at this time of day. It was mostly grass meadows with the occasional tree/bush patches here and there. Maro was impressed by it's size considering it was in such an enclosed space. They walked along pathways until they found a good place for slumber and made themselves comfortable for the night. But Maro had troubles sleeping that night for she had an unsettling feeling that somehow, someone was watching her. And then she started to hear footsteps along the stone paths of the park.

She popped her head over the bushes, hoping to confirm that there was nothing to worry about so that she may get some needed sleep, however, what Maro saw next troubled her dearly. For you see, what she had heard was the footsteps of the woman who had previously stabbed maro in the left hip. Even such low light, there was no mistaking her. She did have a dead giveaway facial feature after all.

Maro suddenly came to life, her heart racing at the thought of the woman who had tried to end her. She kept her reconnaissance steady for a while, watching eagerly as that girl also looked for a cozy place to spend the night. Maro followed the Tattooed Woman as she walked down the navy blue park for a little sanctuary.

Perhaps some vengeance was in order today.

When the woman finally found what she was looking for, Maro kept her distance close and observed until she was sure she was asleep, and then went back to where she was originally sleeping to get something. Neren was sound asleep while Maro grabbed her bag and pulled out some green hair ribbons she had used to make sure her hair would not get in the way while she worked in the mines of Forgaway.

She returned to the tattooed woman's slumber place to find that both her hands were in front of her face, pressed together as though she was praying to spirits or something like that. Maro slipped on the ribbons under her wrists and tied up her hands. While thinking that this was too easy, she did the same to her ankles, and finally even managed to get one around her mouth without her waking up. Maro's heart was racing now. The hour was late, but she could not feel more awake. Maro grabbed the hilt of the women's long sword, which she slept while wearing it still in its holster, but this triggered the woman to open up her blue eyes.

The situation just got real. Maro started to tremble and quickly pulled on the sword until it suddenly let loose, causing Maro to fall back and the sword to harmlessly fall on her. The Tattooed Woman started to struggle, but to no avail as Maro used good knots that she had learned in the swamp. Maro was now shaking all over. A huge devious smile was forced upon her face as she quickly stood up and held the sword. Maro had already agreed to herself that she wouldn't let anyone share the same fate as her, but what she didn't notice was the eyes of the Tattooed Woman started to water up. The Tattooed Woman sat up and looked Maro in the face as she extended her arms to the side, ready to swing the sword. The sword pointed sideways, ready to swipe, but Maros equilibrium was disturbed by realising the tear which was now flowing from the Tattooed womans eyes.

Maro began to shake vigorously. Hey own eyes widened and the heavy sword fell from her hands as she herself fell down to the Tattooed Womans level. They both sat down in the dirt and cried softly for some time, until there was silence. The Tattooed Woman tried to speak through her ribbons, but all she could muster was 'mmmmm' 'mmm'. Maro sat helplessly on the ground, sniffing, her long hair getting all dirty as it hung beside her. She once again looked in the Tattooed Womans blood shot eyes and removed the the ribbon from over her mouth. The Tattooed Woman started to cough softly until she gathered enough energy to speak.

"I… I thought… I thought you wanted to bring me back to him… You know… But now I know you're not after me… You would have never gotten the money had you killed me" She stuttered as she spoke softly in a sort of warm and yet off putting voice. "Who are you?"

Maro had no intent to answer this question until she had properly seized the opportunity to burn through all the questions that were clogging her up.

"What is that tattoo?"

"You don't… You don't know? I thought you would…" She started coughing again and spat on the ground as the cool night breeze hit the 2 women. Maro didn't even know what she was feeling any more.

The Tattooed Woman began to speak again in the same tone. "This is very a shameful reminder that…" She looked away from Maro and turned her head to the side and up into the night's sky. Now her tone had become stronger, more confident. Like she was now living in a reality better than her current situation. "I was once a citizen of the Northern Water Tribe"

Maro gasped. The Tattooed Woman continued. "My name is Heathah, and not only where the people you met earlier and I Northern Water Tribe citizens, but we where high ranking officers in the Tribes defence forces. The symbol we bare over our right eyes is the Brand of Banishment. A mark that will remind the tribe who we are and what we have done and that under no circumstances are we to be forgiven" She paused for a minute. Unlike Maro, she had now stopped shaking and was exerting an aura of dominance and control, despite being tied up. She continued. "Fear now, for I will tell you exactly who we are what what we have done. I trust you heard about the Battle of Koizilla? Well, the folk you met and I all commanded battalions of troops in that battle and helped drive the Fire Nation out. But of course, we were angry that such a thing were to even happen to us in the first place. But most importantly, we recognised that the only reason why we won that day was because Avatar Aang was there to summon Koizilla. So we held a small meeting with ourselves, and we all agreed that in order to truly show the Fire Nation that were to be feared by them, we planned an invasion on The Great Gates of Azulon. Our aim wasn't to gain an material value from this invasion, we just wanted to show that we are not to be messed with, and I still today feel that that is what we would have accomplished. Anyway, we brought it up during a council with other high ranking officers and Chief Theoden himself. "We do not get involved in other people's affairs. Not to mention the fact that we should try and avoid as much bloodshed as possible". This is what the Chief said and then that was the general consensus in the meeting. This angered us of course, because trying to minimise bloodshed was _exactly_ what we were trying to do after all. Especially civilian blood, which we deemed much more important than the blood we were going to put on the line. We were angry enough to go against the will of the Tribe. The plan was simple and cunning. We would round up every troop we had influence over and carry out the invasion ourselves. We would do it in a couple of days, and stealthily enough to minimise casualties. The Fire Nation would receive our message, and no one else in the tribe would ever know. Unfortunately, we were caught loading the troops onto ships and the plan was foiled. And so, we were sentenced to banishment. The mark we bare is internationally recognised, and so getting a second chance at life was hard, but not impossible. I know this to be true, however, that didn't stop the other people from doing what they were going to do next. Their leader's name is Xeo. He led us all into the Rift where out in the cracks and under the ground was founded a secret society that belonged to well known crime syndicate named the Baker-Kolts. They work organised crime in nearby settlements and cities all along the North-West region of the Earth Kingdom. Xeo and their leader Kolt, who likes to be called Lightning-Bolt Kolt, would often talk to each other, scheming things as I suspect. They gave us the second chance we deserved, but not the one we needed. Until today I still don't know what exactly was up between them. But I found strong evidence that would suggest that they were planning the invasion on The Great Gates of Azulon. Now why a group like the Baker-Kolts would agree to something like that is still beyond me, but Xeo always did think he knew what was best for the Tribe. I'll bet he fancied himself a better Chief than Theoden. I told you I knew that there would be a proper second chance for us, and I tried to explain that to Xeo, but he didn't listen. So I tried to make it so that once again his plan would foil, but once again, I was caught. They hurt me a lot as a punishment, and tried to sell me as a slave in Omashu. But I managed to slip away. This is why they are looking for me now and this is why I am making the journey up north. I must get back to the Rift and make sure this invasion does not happen. The Baker-Kolts are not trained or equipped for this; it could only spell bad news for the Northern Water Tribe and us outcasts, and even though I was forced to bear this mark, I still care about their welfare. Not to mention the fact that I want my vengeance those thugs for trying to do what they did to me. I'm sorry, but I can not express my shock and disappointment in what they have become well enough for you to understand. Please, know this. I'm extremely sorry for trying to kill you, but hopefully after hearing my story you can understand why it was so important that I don't get handed back to _them_ … and I thought you would turn me in. If I may make a request, untie me, leave me and let us go our separate ways. If our paths ever cross again once this whole mess is cleaned up, I promise, I will make it up to you for what I have done. Somehow"

By now, Maro had managed to regain her own equilibrium. The night was now old, and the young lady was tired and weary. Her scares ached too. Moved by the story that she has just experienced, she introduced herself and untied Heathah. Maro didn't tell Heathah about her own journey, and just let her be. She went back to where Neren was fast and sleep and her stuff was stashed beside. Looking at Neren reminded Maro of her own journey, for she had forgotten all about her own struggles and was so mesmerized by the story. As she fell asleep, Travelling north along the side of the Makapu Mountains and eventually travelling west through the Rift into Namal where she would climb upon a boat and finally reach her destination.


	6. Chapter 6 - Mess

"Maroooooo… Where are you, oh, dear Marooo?" came mum's voice while Maro hid under a bush. She contracted herself into a little ball in the water as she heard footsteps around her. Ora was right there next to her, undercover. They both exchanged looks of brilliant mischief as the adults walked around them.

"If you don't come out now, you'll be punished" said dad. She wallowed in silence for a short while, but the the bush started to shrivel up around her, turning brown and broken up, and Ora now nowhere to be seen. She got out to find herself in the pool she had often treasured so much. She turned around to see Tik and Wik standing on the bank.

"Wha…" she began to say, as they lifted their hands up into the air causing a huge wave that violently washed Maro away. She shut her eyes tight while she could not breathe, and was then hastily thrown onto a set of rocks. The water disappeared and she found herself in the mines of Forgaway, still unable to breathe and this time unable to move either, try as she might. Scared to her wits, she shook herself and tried urgently to fight the force that was pushing her down so hard. The force turned into a large man that she recognised as Takip.

"Why couldn't you be my daughter? Huh?" He said, nearly angrily "You could've a least said bye…"

Maro's eyes widened with a new found fear and she snapped around to see Fay.

"Yeah Maro, whyyy…"

But as Fay said that a bright light came which caused Maro to squint. She she finally regained her vision, she found herself in a circus, illuminated by great flames surrounded by joyous music. Everyone was dancing around and flying around. And then from the side, a great lizard appeared that was bigger than Maro herself. It interrupted the merriment, although it made Maro feel more uneasy than gay and walked along to where Maro was.

"I couldn't save her! I… I..." it said in a croaky low pitched voice as Maro fell back on the ground.

It opened its mouth to reveal three rows of long pointy teeth and instantly brought its supper jawn down to the young traveler. She closed her eyes, the fear now overwhelming her, she felt the piercing the one of the teeth go into her hip. It was agnosing. She opened her eyes to see Heathah pull her sword out from the young travelers hip; her eyes glowing white like the Avatar.

The young traveller now looked up to see the sky, although she was not on the ground but on a bed. Ichi and Neren both leaned over on top of her.

"HeloOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO" They both said at once. They were now in Hei Bai Forrest and everyone from before including Maro's family were now dancing to wild lights and music while the young lady still lay in the hospital bed. They all had the most strange expressions on their faces. As though someone was forcing them to be forry and joyful and was threatening them to continue on. Maro looked over her body to find a great sword lodged in her left hip. And the shaking started all over again as she grabbed it with her hands that now started bleeding. She tried to get up the sword had seemed to have nailed her to the bed. But Maro was now standing up, Heatha in front of her.

"Save yourself" she said as she turned around and run off through the Fire Nation colony while the music and lights went on with the dancing. Maro ran after her, struggling to breathe, she tripped over Neren who simply said "Whoops" as Maro flew full speed into the ground which had quickly turned into a black void as she hit it.

The void reassembled itself into a sky and Maro quickly flew up as she sat down the hard sandy ground. She started breathing extremely heavily, as she seemed to be so short of breath. Her body felt heavy as if there was a net under her skin keeping everything tight and hard to move. It was slowly dissipating. On Top of all that, her bad hip was throbbing now.

It was day time, and she could see the Rift around her. Tears started to flow from her eyes as Neren woke up from Maro's noisy muffling.

"What!?" said Neren with legitimate concern for Maro. As if Maro didn't feel bad enough already now without having to deal with Neren, she got up and took a walk along the cliff where a great desert lay underneath.

Maro regained her cool and took in her surroundings. It was clearly early in the mourning, for the sun had not even finished rising yet. For the first time, Maro used her trusty compass to look west to see more land instead of ocean. She had been traveling north along the coast until now. Now the ocean lay south, and she had to travel through the heart of the rift in order to get to Namal the fastest way possible. Maro hadn't been in the Rift for long, so she feared the worst was yet to come. The Rift was a dessert you see, but not like the kind you would envision from stories. It was a brown dessert made of rocks. And it was not hot, in fact, it was extremely cold.

Maro was thankful for her good Earth Kingdom attire.

She tried to forget what she had just experienced, but there was one vision in particular she she couldn't get out of her head. Tik and Wik summoning such a great wave reminded Maro of her ambition to become a master water bender. It would seem she had left that one neglected for she hadn't even practiced water bending since she left the swamp. Maro had an epiphany as she realised she could have gotten Heathah to teach her water bending, especially after what she did to her. Another thing that bothered her was that she didn't really understand why Heathah was telling her to save herself, but she just dismissed it as though it didn't really mean anything to her anyway. Maro decided it was time to go back. Neren was probably went back to asleep; She always was a late riser.

But to Maros surprise, when she got back to camp Neren was up and warming herself with a bunch of layers of her clothes.

"Maro! You seemed quite off before. I hope everything is ok..."

Maro Sighed. "You could say that"

"Come now, come now! It's not something that could be helped, Maro!" And then she started singing while Maro packed everything she owned into her bag.

" _The sun will rise again, and we shall be gone by then._

 _For so joyful we are, and we shall travel far._

 _Destination unknown, in the sunshine or the rain. Together or alone._

 _Follow us if you dare, but it will lead you nowhere"_

The singing would usually drive Maro insane, but it didn't seem so much the case today. Music wasn't really something Maro had experienced much ever since she left the swamp.

There was no breakfast today. All the food in both the girls' bags had run short. In the past, Maro would be quite the scavenger and live fine without what was considered to be 'proper' food. She supposed it was one of the advantages of growing up in the swamp, not that there were many (according to her at least). But alas, she had no idea what to do in dessert, and Neren, well… She didn't really have any idea what to do at any time at any place, or so it seamed at least. And so the girls walked on through the cracks in the arid earth that was the Rift. The cold inspired them to move quickly so that they may warm up nicely, and so they covered much ground but lost much energy. Maros vision started to deteriorate while she began to have difficulties swallowing. Her head had started throbbing due to the lack of moisture. How Neren was feeling didn't really seem relevant to Maro, but she did notice that she started off merry and joyful as always, but now she was quiet and didn't really say anything. She kindf of just walk silently by. This pleased Maro.

Some days had past but Maro couldn't exactly think clearly enough to know how many, and those days were spent in silence with walking and sleeping. And as time passed, there came the moment when Maros body had had enough.

The girls were walking through a large crack; a cavern or so. The sun was beating down on them and still they were suffering from the cold. The wall of this cavern was tall and rigid with large and small rocks. Maro reckoned she could easily climb them if not in her current condition. But even thinking about climbing something seemed to cause Maro to be even more worn out. At least the ground was smooth enough. Looking down into the depths of the crack made Maros head spin even more. It was like a never ending trap. Maro assumed that this is what it might feel like to be imprisoned. Like every step was a step that she did not want to take and yet she had to because there was nothing else. But despite all of that, not once did Maro feel like this was going to be the end for her, oh no. She had come way too far and done way too much for it to end here.

She fell on her knees. Meren rushed to her side.

"Maro, Maro, Maro, Maro, Maro, Maro, Maro"

Neren started shaking Maro by her shoulders.

Maro fell flat on the ground face down, but before she hit the ground it had, for the second time today, turned into darkness. Heathah's voice was heard in a whisper and said "Save yourself". Suddenly Maro didn't quite feel as bad any more.

When Maro woke up, she was no longer out in the midsts of the Rift. She felt really weak and light headed, but at least her headache was gone. Her eyes still shut, she felt the cold polished stone ground, which was rather welcome compared to the atmosphere of the Rift. The line echoed in her mind. She opened her eyes to see a wall, a wall that was brown and yellow and made of small and large rocks. A wall Maro thought she could probably climb. But the light was dim, and Maro sat up, her hair lying beside her as she did so. The roof of where ever she was was made from the same grey, polished stone as the floor. And so where the walls to her left and right. But as she turned around, still sitting, she saw that the final wall was made from iron bars. Amongst that, she also saw a bowl of water and what looked like dried up meet in another bowl. Feeling like some kind of polarbear-dog, but not asking any questions to herself, she started to replenish her hydration and nutrition.

The light in here was dim, so she couldn't see much, but she went over to the bars to examine her situation a bit more. Her predicament sunk in as she lay eyes on the outside world. She was in a crevasse; a crack of the Rift. But this was no ordinary crack, this one had been dug into to create a jail, it looked like. Maro saw a bunch of different cells carved into the parallel wall of the crack in front of her, but she could see no more prisoners.

"Heya! Anyone out there" cried Maro.

She heard loud footsteps coming from her right as someone smacked the bars with a sword.

"Oi! Keep it down there or I'll punish ya". A man appeared from the side of cell, but he moved away too quickly, so Maro didn't get a good look at him.

"Can you at least answer some questions for me? Like what am I doing here?"

"Whada I look like to you? A receptionist?". His voice was croaky and and a slight squeak to it.

"How did I get here?"

"Oi! Whadid I just tell you?"

Maro paid no regard to his remarks. She was ready for answers.

"What do you and who ever put me in here want with me?"

The man set foot in front of Maros cell so she could now get a proper look at him. He was a bit shorter than Maro, but a lot rounder. He had scruffy stubble all over his chubby face and his teeth, although white were crooked and often missing in some places. His hair was relatively short and very messed up. Kind of greasy too, Maro noticed.

"Do ya really wan me to come in 'ere and test my steel on ya?"

"That sword is made of iron…" said Maro observantly. She had learned a thing or two ever since she left the swamp after all. She thought of asking about Neren, but then realised this could potentially be a good opportunity to give the little girl the slip for good this time.

"Grrrrr! Shut th' fuck already or I'll get backup and beat th' crap outa ya"

Maro called his bluff. "I thought you were gonna test out your fake steel? But my my, do you really need backup to beat up an innocent little girl? Well alright then, go get them. I'll just wait here then"

The man gazed up her with weary eyes. He was wearing a cream coloured shirt with light brown pants, encapsulated by a thin black belt with a loop to hold the short sword. Some moments past of them simply exchanging a glance and eventually Maro said "Yeah, that's what I thought. So, I believe you were about to tell me what I'm doing here"

The man snapped out of his gaze. "I wasn't about to tell ya no nothing. But don't ya worry, yous won't be in here long" he said and walked back in the same direction he came from.

Maro grabbed the bars in front of her with her hands, just blundering over the empty cells. Whoever brought her here must have saved her life. But why? She too, snapped out of her gaze and had a sudden revelation as she did so. She looked at her closed hands around the bars and smiled, let go of the bars, turned to her side and simply slipped through bars.

Now that she was outside of her cell she looked down the barred corridor to find that it wasn't as long as she expected it to be. And that she was indeed the only prisoner in this prison. To her right where the guard went, there could be seen that there was a bend to the left. To her left, she can see a bend to her right. She followed in the man's foot steps until he got to the corner so she could peer over it. The room was small and had a black suncloth over the top to provide shade. There wasn't anything in this room apart from a bunch of wooden chairs, in one of which lay the guard, smothered in his chair, smoking a pipe. In the middle of the room lay a large squared rock which was acting as as a table, evident by the fact that there were bottles and cups of ale resting on it, as well as some more pipes and a clear glass jar of tobacco leave which was probably the source of the strange smell Maro felt. There were also some swords, like the ones the guard carried leaning up against the wall left from where the young woman was standing, and beyond the room yet another corridor could be observed.

All of a sudden, Maro could smell something foul, and before she could work out what it was it picked her up from her armpits and said "Gotcha!"

Really startled, Maro let out a high pitched shriek, sending out a sort of echo through the cavern.

The guard quickly slammed his pipe down on the table, got up from his chair and turned around.

"Ya fool! Whaddaya think you're gett'n up to den, eh?" He said as he started walking towards Maro.

She resisted, but was still being restrained by what she now realised was a man with stubby hands.

"Hehehe. Ya outta take betta care of ya captives" said the man behind her as the guard grabbed her legs and lifted her up while the other man was still carrying her by her shoulders.

They took her back to her cell, opened the door and violently threw her in. Her bad hip ached hard as she smashed into the ground. On the way in, Maro grabbed a look at the other man. He was rather fat, about her height and was wearing the same clothes as the other guard.

"I don't even know ow' she managed to get outta 'er cell" said the tall one.

"I saw. Shes so small, she jus' squeezed herself right through em bars! Look at her ya nit-wit!"

At this point Maro had finished untangling herself from her hair and pushed herself up with her hands and turned her head to give a dull stare of unamusement to the guards as they bickered.

"Well then, I think I can solve this one. Give us ya sword and belt"

The fat guard complained, and the tall one used both swords and belts to create a horizontal bar that prevented Maro from being able to stand up while sliding through the bars and essentially worked to that she couldn't use her size to escape.

"You're a high maintenance one, ya are" said the tall guard. They both laughed.

"Yep, an' that's why you gone watch er'"

"What!? Why me?"

"Ya let 'er escape. It's what ya deserve"

The tall one grumbled and miserably took his seat against the cell opposite Maros cell. The sun rays were sprayed all along the yellow-brown desert corridor of cells as the fat one walked over the the room on the right.

Some time had passed and Maro stared down at the guard as he himself stared down at the floor. She decided to see if she could have some fun with him.

"Hey! Hey guard fellow!"

"Shut it, you!"

"I'm bored! What do you do for fun around here!"

"Where do ya think ya are, bitch!"

She couldn't help but giggle a bit now.

"Stop that!" exclaimed the guard. This made her giggle harder. "STOP"

Now she began to sing through her giggles.

" _The sun will rise again, and we shall be gone by then._

 _For so joyful we are, and we shall travel far._

 _Destination unknown, In the sunshine or the rain. Together or alone. ohhhhhhhh!_

 _Follow us if you dare, but you will be lead no where nowhere"_

By the time she had finished singing she had broken out into full on laughter. The guard in front of her picked himself up by the bars he wa leaning on, raised his fists to the air and cursed.

"Why me… WHYYYYYYY"

Maro was still laughing uncontrollably while the guard sloppily walked along to the room on the right where the other guard went.

Maros laugh continued on for some time, echoing through the cells. She couldn't keep herself up anymore and was now laying on the cell with her back to the bars and her front to the rigid darkened back wall. When she had had enough of laughing, she remained on the floor, a heavy smile stretched across her face. Some moments later and she turned her body around to look at the bars; including the newly installed one. The young woman got up, grabbed the sword on the right by it's hilt, and started shaking it left and right. It slowly cut through the belt that was keeping it there and fell out of it's place as the belt became multiple pieces scattered along the ground. She put the sword outside her cell and once again turned to the side as she climbed through the bars, picking up the sword again as she made her way out..

This time she decided to turn left from her cell as take a peek around what was on the other corridor.

But before she managed to get there, an arm grabbed her shirt and lifted her up/

"Not so fast there" It was the fatter guard from before. Maro dropped the sword on the ground. She squirmed and flung her arms trying to grab the sword on the floor no no avail. But then, another voice was heard.

"Put her down"

Maro knew this voice. It was… Heathah!

Maro was dropped on the ground. Now should could turn her head to see the gard with a hard pressed to his neck. Heathah was not visible behind him.

"Now slowly turn around"

The guard did asshe said so while keeping his silence. Only being able to see the back of her head, Maro saw Heathah neil down and pick up the sword that was lying next to Maro. She then led the guard into the room Maro had seen earlier and used the sword from the floor to bar the door while still hanging on to her own sword.

"Heathah!" said Maro as the older woman turned around and Maro could see her face now.

"Come now" she said firmly and grabbed Maro by the arm, pulling her along as the two women ran along the row of cells "We must be hasty now"

They turned the corner to find yet another row of cells, only it was much longer. Maro's spirit was high despite nearly being choked by a guard, and her recent laughing attack was the blame. Singing that song reminded her of Neren. She had now abandoned thought of giving her the slip and was wondering about her well being. She wondered if maybe Neren was in one of the cells around. She walked with pride but also silence from one end to the other but to no avail, as there were only 2 people in cells next to each other; both were too big to be Neren (and they were asleep).

"WAIT!" exclaimed Maro as they got to the end of the corridor.

"Whatever it is we don't have time!" was Heathas reply as they stopped just before the light at the end of the corridor.

Maro now got a good look at Heathah face. It was stern and full of determination. Her dark blue eyes were shadowed by her dark hair as the light software bent it's way around the hard features of her face.

"I came with a friend. I must find her… I'll bet she's in this prison!"

"Jail" corrected Heathah "And if that's so, then so be it. Meet me at the large green building when you're done" Said Heathah pointing out into the light. "Oh, and don't talk to anyone. Everyone knows everyone around here and you'll surely be turned in" was Heathahs last remarks before disappearing into the light. Maro figured she'd better find what what building Heathah was talking about and stepped out into the light.

What she saw next was absolutely astounding. It was a large intersection of cravasses, with about 5 exits, all of which were much bigger than the one Maro was standing by. Also, the opening Maro was standing in was much more shallow than the other cravasses, and so the platform that Maro was standing on was very high compared the to bottom of the interchange. But alas, the interchange was not a mere hole leading into other cravasses, for it was filled with what apeared to be a village. Many huts and houses lay on different heights along of walls of the interchange and the gaping passages, kind of like an inverse mountain structure. Around the lower parts of the interchange where large decorated buildings, one of which was especially big and was extended into the walls beneath the houses that resided on the layers above. All of these buildings encapsulated a vibrant market full of life and vigor, with a huge water fountain in the middle. On top of this fountain stood a pole carrying a massive flag which she didn't take time to examine. Maro could see people of all sorts walking around on their daily business, making the whole picture a living breathing ecosystem.

The young lady stood there gaping, awe smacked for some time before she was hit with a welcome though unsettling sight. Neren could be seen in a recreational park area down below from where Maro was standing.

The young traveler bolted the stairs carved into the walls going down to lower platforms, and hopefully to the ground level. She continued her gaze upon the interchange. As she lowered towards the closest level to her, she realised that she didn't have her bag off stuff anymore, meaning that she would probably have to find a job and re-earn everything. This seemed like such a burden, especially since it had been little over a year since Maros set foot, and remembering that her original goal was to learn waterbending, and being stuck in the middle of a desert definitely does not help that.

She finally got down to the level where a long row of houses resided along of the walls. Looking down, she could see more levels before her with the same format. A way down further was nowhere in sight, but some people conversing on benches in the recreational area near the edge was, however. Maro now could also see Neren going up to them….

As Maro ran to swiftly and silently stop Neren, she overheard what the people on the benches were saying.

"They still haven't fixed those wretched planks on the Ivy Bridge. Someone's gonna die using that bridge, you know"

"There is no one where with wood work experience. Just try to take care on the Ivy"

Maro thought that maybe she could get a job fixing bridges. She had wood work experience from the mines of Forgaway.

But before anyone noticed Neren, Maro had made it and she grabbed the little girl and pulled her off past a corner of one of the houses.

Neren was now pressed with her right side to the house, her kidnapper her from her back.

"You can't talk to randoms here. Everyone knows everyone, and they will report you immediately" she told the little girl and moved away from Nerens back and, Neren now seeing who it was pushed Maro back and sat on her lap.

"Neren!" cried Maro as with a gaping smile she wrapped her arms around Nerens small body.

"Yayyyy!" Said Neren in her adolescent way. Neren, now pulling a smile herself pushed herself away from Maros shoulder and took a look at her face. "This is the first time I've seen you smile since I found you!"

"And let's not make it the last" replied Maro with joy.

Neren continued. "I saw them imprisoning you, but then I followed them to see where they would take your stuff. I know where it is, follow me, but we need to take _real_ care. They're already hunting for me" Neren now slyly come to the other corner of the house and pointed. Shew was pointing at the building Heathah said to meet them at. Perfect.

Maro gave a decisive nod. Apparently Neren did have some intelligence after all.

The girls followed the line of houses, hiding in the shadows as people walked by. After a number of bridges and staircases, they made it to the bottom.

"We are going in there" Said Neren pointing at one of the large buildings that was directly on the right of the main building. They snuck through the crowd of people until they reached the large wooden doors of the building they got to.

They snuck in only to find that it was much more extravagant from the outside. A low wooden roof lay over their heads and a long skinny corridor of wooden doors and walls with some small windows on the sides. To the end, Maro could see a wooden staircase.

They crept along through the corridors, bending themselves under windows. Next to one room, inaudible speakings could be heard. Maro popped her head under the glass window out of curiosity to see what was going on. It was a bunch of old looking men and women conversing around a big colourful table.

As the ladies reached the staircase, Neren stopped and pointed to the door closest to it on the right. This was a small room with no windows. Maro held her breath as she opened the door… And was relieved when she saw no one was there.

Much like the rest of this building, the room was long and skinny with two big shelves, and not much room to walk in between them. It was pretty hard to see in the room, on the shelves where all sorts of equipment that did not interest Maro. At the very end, on the floor underneath the shelves there a line of all sorts of bags. One of which Maro recognised as her own. Even the hard tube (that she had acquired along the way) containing the map which was strapped to the side of the bag was still there. She picked it up and opened the door to see Neren standing outside with a huge frown on her face.

"I'm sorry Maro" said Neren as Maro looked to the left to see the people in the room standing there with swords drawn. To the right where 2 men holding pikes guarding the staircase.

Maro's heart sank into her chest; her bag felt particularly heavy on her back.

"So you're the one meddling with my jail, eh?" said the man at the front with his sword pointed at Maro. He was about half a head taller than Maro, and very muscular.

"We don't usually like to do this, but maybe a couple of months in the isolation dungeons is what you need to dampen your spirits" he said as we pointed his sword forwards signaling for the girls to go up the staircase. The men with the pikes led the way up the stairs which brought them to a new level the same corridor could be seen behind them with a bid window at the end this time/ But as well as the staircase going back down to where they came from was also a ladder coming up to the roof.

The men with the pikes led the way, and shortly after the girls were forced to climb the ladder as well. They were now on the roof, and on the same level as the houses on the ring closest to the ground. They walked off the roof and onto the yellow-brown ground in front of the houses, still followed by the person who spoke before. Everyone else stayed behind. They had only gotten a couple of steps away from the ladder before the girls heard "AHHHHHHHHH!" and saw that the man that was following them was now replaced with a woman who was currently closing the hatch-door that gave access to the building through the room. With angry expressions, the men raised their weapons to the woman as she turned around, looking for a fight.

"Who is this!?" cried Neren

It was Heathah! She quickly out her sword and sliced one of the men in the face with the it before he could even get close to her. Blood splattered across the room. Another man raised his pike at her for a safer distance but he was too slow since Heathah then slashed his pike and the top broke off.

She quickly darted to the side as another guard threw a stab at her. The man attempted yet another stab at her, and this time she grabbed the wooden part of the pike and lifted her end into the air, essentially deflecting the stab. Then she swung her other hand carrying the sword in the air like a rainbow and gave the guards neck a clean slice followed by his head falling to the ground.

She then grabbed her sword with both hands as she very quickly took 2 steps forwards and gave the man a shallow slash of the chest. He started clenching his chest; tears flowing from his eyes and blood dripping from his fists as Heathah gave him a direct kick over his hands causing him to to wobble backwards and trip over the the other man who was still Trying to find a way to put his pike back together.

Heathah pointed towards the row of houses. In the distance there was an upwards going staircase.

"Run!" Exclaimed Heathah. "More could come at any minute!"

But even before she finished saying that, Maro grabbed Neren by the arm and started running as fast as she could towards the staircase. Heathah followed closely. Maro had many questions for her, but there was no time, as Heatha did all the talking as they ran.

"I came back here to find out what Xeo and that scumbag Kolt where up too. There were details I knew that didn't add up" she said through her heavy breathing. The climbed up the stairs, saw that the next case was behind them and started running that way.

Heathah continued: "Remember his attack on the Fire Nation?"

The group climbed up another staircase and turned around.

"Well, as it happens, that wasn't the plan at all. In fact this whole chase has just been a massive mess"

Neren was now thoroughly confused.

The group made it to one of the many bridges connecting the paths. It was not that long, but quite thick. It stretched over a crack in the platform/wall where droplets of water seemed to occasionally fall. Consequently, the pale wood of the bridge could hardly be seen through the moss and the vines that were growing around it. Neren, Maro and Heathah started to cross it, without stopping.

"Despite all this, my plite didn't go out in vain. I did discover something extremely valuable. Xeo... was planning something worse. Something I could never have dreamed he would do. He is going to carry out a f-"

But Heathah could not finish was she was saying because at that moment the planks under her feet shattered, and she fell into the crack. She didn't fall very far, for she grabbed onto a small ledge and hung off with her arms, which were now smearing blood all over the face of the ledge.

"Heathah!" Shouted Maro. Neren gave Maro a strange look.

"Fuck!" Shouted Heathah. "I'll live! I promise! Run, you fools! Run!"

"HEATHAH!" shouted Maro, breaking desperation in her voice, tears running all over her face as an arrow darted past her quickly followed by another one.

That was Maros que to run, and run she did. She pulled Neren along with her and eventually

climbed out of the crevasse, without any harm to her or Neren.


	7. Chapter 7 - Stuff I Gotta Do

"You know what?" Asked Maro.

"What?" replied Neren who was sitting upon Maro's shoulders as she walked up up the now grassy slight incline.

"When I retrieved my bag back in Haritz there were like another bunch of bags there next to it. I reckon they were all filled with silvers like mine, for some reason"

"You should have taken them too!" Said Neren as both girls gave a chuckle at this remark.

A cold breeze was the only thing to intervene with the days otherwise flawless weather. The sun rays beaming down along the grassy plains seemed to fail before they reached the cold travelers. A small hill with a single tree at the peak was the only thing that could be seen.

"Gosh those people were nice back there" said Maro thinking about about the small village they had just passed through on the way here. But at that moment Neren jumped over Maro and started running up the grassy incline.

"You'll never catch me!" Said Neren

"Why?! Sounds easy!" Exclaimed Maro as she started matching the younger girl's speed.

Neren giggled as she ran, started hugging the tree, and disappeared into the leaves as she climbed up.

"That's not gonna save you this time!" Said Maro as she herself reached the peak and started scaling the tree.

She put her hands high up in the air, jumped, grabbed a branch as it arched from her weight. The young lady pulled herself up quickly and used the momentum from said pull to grab the next branch above while swinging her legs over the previous branch. Each of her limbs were independent throughout this display of speed and agility.

As she reached the top of the tree, she gazed to the left where the sun was beginning to set up far away settlements that were endless snowfields away. The sight was truly spectacular, so much so that Maro had to wow aloud.

"Sure is pretty isn't it?"

"Ah!". Maro was quite startled by Neren's voice as she joined Maro grabbing the trunk gazing directly in the direction in which the girls had come from.

Maro slowly turned her head in the direction that Neren was facing. She was greeted with the sight of a huge city bound by snowfall, not that far off into the distance. An active port could be seen along with an endless ocean.

"Is… Is that…" Neren didn't leave time for Maro to finish what she was about to say.

"Yep, there it is. That's Namal. That's where I'm from!" Said the little one as she closed her eyes and smiled heavily as though she was reliving something great. It was at this point that Maro realised that she didn't know anything about had even forgotten why Neren was even traveling with her and had a brief flashback of when they first met. A shiver went down Maro's back, even unrelated to the cold.

"Do you think Mother and Brother and still waiting for you?" Asked Maro as she turned to Neren with a smile.

"Well… There is only one way to find out!" Said Neren as she returned her own smile.

"Come now" Said Maro after some moments of peering off into the distance. It was dark now. "Let's set up camp on the hill here"

They both climbed back down the tree. Maro was greeted by something which she was neglected to notice on the way up; a long wooden bench sandwiched in between to equal length wooden benches. On the side of the hill facing Namal was short wooden fence protecting a short cliff that was about the same size as Maro. On the cliff lay a steel plaque with writings on it, but Maro didn't know how to read. Neren read it out loud:

"You gaze from Teddy lookout, named after the first head of Namal"

"How do you know how to read?"

"I used to go to school in Namal. They even taught us a little about Kuss Teddy"

Maro found herself wishing she had a school to go too as she snuggled into her newly purchased sleeping bag and passed out for the night.

Morning arrived and Maro was excited to be so close to her final destination, but yet she couldn't help thinking about Neren and the cold which confused Maro as there were no clouds in the sky and wasn't used to such temperatures in any case.

"What were you doing in Hei Bai Forest when I found you?" Maro asked the little one.

"I found YOU… Remember?"

"You're avoiding the question"

"I was with my dad. We were travelling"

"And he sent you to visit your mum and brother all by yourself?"

"How long have you been traveling for? Much longer and me, right?"

"Wow, you just love to dodge questions, don't you?"

Neren remained silent and took a hard stare over the city in front. Neran joined here for a while, until she finally said:

"Much longer than you, yes. But not _that_ much longer than you…"

And then the girls sat on the table and ate breakfast under the shade of the tree to the right.

After they were done, all was packed into Maros bag and girls set off.

It was a short walk from the lookout to Namal, getting considerably colder every step. Soon the grassy plains failed, and slowly morphed into pure whiteness. Maro was scared in the beginning, for she had never seen snow before, had no idea what to expect and quite underestimated how cold it was. But Neren seemed to be quite content with it and eased Maro through the strange sensations of sinking footsteps.

Walking along the main streets of Namal, which was a fairly large city, it was easy to find some new apparel for the girls. Maro bought a cute little earth kingdom jacket for Neren and for herself a full suit of Northern Water Tribe apparel (including a hood and a cute pair of light blue earmuffs), which didn't comfort Maro as much as she had presumed it would. Walking around Namal, it was obvious that it was some ancient city, because half of it was built upon ruins and some were left as tourist sights.

Snow seemed to have a strange numbing smell which Maro soon learned to associate with these ruins of what was once an old Namal; partly preserved but mostly built over.

Namal was also along a steep hill. All the houses seemed to go along in lines horizontal on the mountain face. But despite it's similarities, it did not remind Maro of Haritz due to the long roads which stretched from the top to the bottom, along which where most of shops and the stalls. The others would be spread around the port, which seemed to be the main area of Namal despite the fact that you would never see anyone swimming along the narrow shores.

Today the girls would rest

Tomorrow they would find Nerens parents and say their final goodbyes

And the day after Maro would hop on a ferry to the North Pole.

Or at least, this was the plan.

After a pleasant night's sleep on a soft warm bed sandwiched by 2 equally pleasant meals, the young ladies left the Royal Namal Port Inn and were on their way.

"Where to now?" Asked Maro

"Ahhhh….. You know what, why don't I come with you to the North Pole! That's sounds like fun right" Came Nerens answer, but Maro didn't really process it.

"I'm not going there for fun… I'm going there to live. The same reason why you're here, right?"

"Yes" Neren was now quite agitated, although this seemed pas over Maro as she wasn't really focusing. Then Neren lit up. "Do you wanna see my school? It's a good school. I think you would have liked it there"

Maro gave a little chuckle. "Alright then, Neren. Let's go have a look at your school"

Neren returned to her regular bubbly self and started humming while bouncing up the hill until they got to a fenced complex of buildings which was apparently Nerens school. What could be seen was two short buildings with many floors and rooms. Directly in front of where they were standing was a black courtyard with benches along the side. Neren got a bit ahead of herself.

"That's where my classroom was, and that's where the older kids went, and that's where we ate food, and that's the assembly hall and that's more classrooms, and that's where played during the break"

As Neren finished she was pointing off directly right from where they were standing to a small fenced off playground with an opening leading into the school, and a similar one leading outside facing the two girls. Inside the fence, a young boy could be seen having fun on the swing with his mother pushing him.

Neren stood there for a second, almost stunned, but all of this was simply flying over Maro. She was too busy immersing herself in fantasies about the Northern water tribe. It felt so close; the thought alone was giving Maro shivers unrelated to the cold, ironically.

Neren moved closer to Maro and started curing her her arms around Maros. In the meantime, the mother and helped the kid of the swing set and started heading for the exit in the girls' direction.

"This is nice… But don't you have a home… You know… Like a house or something?" Asked Maro, still in her own world.

"Ahhhhh…. A house… Y-Yes! Come! Come!" cried Neren as she pulled Maros arm and dragged her in the opposite direction to the park and onto a main road.

They started walking up the hill until they turned right a few streets after. As they walked, the city of Namal was living and breathing around them. They got all the way to the end of the street, which was blocked off by cliff face. More cityscape could be seen above the cliff.

On the left of the street lay houses from the back, climbing up the mountain while on the right the houses where stooping down. Maro looked up into the sky to see that the clouds had blackened. Perhaps the snowfall was to restart soon? Neren swung the front gate of the final house on the street which was pressed up against the cliff face. Even though now to seemed to Maro that her mission regarding Neren had now been accomplished, she still left a responsibility and decided to meet Nerens family. The front yard was small, rectangular and covered by a blanket of snow. The house itself was made from a smooth black painted stone, like all the buildings in Namal that were not ancient ruins, more or less. Maro gave a shudder as she stepped over to the red-wood door as Neren stretched her arm into a small crack in the cliff face to retrieve a key that opened the door.

Neren turned the doorknob and pushed the door open to relieve a looming ominous corridor which was unclear where it led. Staring down into it gave Maro an eerie feeling, but taking a few steps inside was worse. A foul stench swept over Maro like a blanket of lead, encapsulating the girls in a seemingly unfathomable sensation which led to a severe case of nausea. Maro ran outside and turned towards the cliff face where to thrusted herself and vomited into the snow. Neren performed the same action along the fence that separated that house from the one next to it.

"Well… There goes breakfast" She said softly to herself. Then she turned around and exchanged looks with Neren, the odd taste of her puke now lingering in her mouth. "What the fuck was that?"

"I.. I don't know….. I…"

"Well why don't we find out"

"You… You wanna go BACK?!"

"Yes. Just hold your nose, Ok?"

And though doubtfully, Neren did just that as the girls walking into the house for the second time. Breathing through her mouth seemed to be only a minor improvement. Maro held an uneasy feeling in her stomach and unrest in her mouth. Maro turned back to watch Neren cough uncontrollably at a door on the side of the corridor she was standing by.

But surely enough the girls made it to the end of the corridor that was illuminated quite well due to the fact that the wall protecting it from the outside had been burnt down. Large lumps of car lay scattered around the room as the edges of the walls and the wood on the floor where complete blackened out from char. Through the hole in the wall, a lot of Namal could be seen but most of it was hidden in fog.

In the middle of the room lay the source of the stench; two bodies laying on a blood stained floor, barely visible due to the amount of flies swarming around them making a humming sound. Nothing could be told from the bodies except that one was tall (probably an adult) and the other was small (probably a child). The one final other thing that could be seen where their eyes, which the dark red dried out blood and the flies neglected. They were bright vibrant green. They were unmistakable.

Suddenly Maro felt her heart sink through her chest. Her hip started to ache for the first time in a long while and she wanted to throw up again, but there was nothing left, only a gag reflex now.

Maro collapsed onto the floor leaning up against the wall. She heard Neren erupt into tears as she started to for her own. She felt really stiff like she had lot's of trouble moving her limbs and squeezed her eyes shut as the crying continued on behind her.

"Come now Neren" came a strange female voice from behind. It startled Maro. "It's ok, everything is going to be ok. I promise"

Maro made a huge effort, but it payed off because she managed to turn around and take a look at the lady that was now picking up Neren. She had short sandy brown hair that covered her face and was wearing a large Earth Kingdom snow Jacket with a hood. She cradled Neren in her arms, looked at Maro and said with a head gesture: "Come" as she walked outside.

Neren was still crying while the lady carried her, and Maro followed.

The lady sat down in the snow in the front yard and tried to comfort Neren for a while.

"Whoa, what happened?" came another strange voice. This time it was male, and Maro turned to see the boy from the park walking through the front gate. He had his mother's hair and looked like he was the same age as Neren.

"I thought I told you to go home, Kattan" said the Lady.

"Sorry mum, but I wanted to see Neren again!"

"So what happened?"

"Yes, please tell us what you know" Said Maro through her healthy breathing. All of them were now sitting down in a kind of circle touching the cliff face.

The 4 of them waited for Neran to come to her senses, and slowly but surely her crying died down and she started sniffing heavily. Eventually she spoke.

She looked up at everyone, her eyes bloodshot. She could hardly muster out words through her sniffling and uncontrollable breathing. But eventually, what was said was this:

"My mum and dad started fighting. I don't know why. They wouldn't tell me. My mum started to get really scared. She told me she was scared. She kept holding me and crying. I didn't know why, but I would cry too"

The next part took a particularly long time to muster, but eventually she let it out:

"They were killed by earthbenders! Two of them! They came to the house many times before. Mum would always go and hide. I would go with her, and so would Mack. They would sometimes hurt daddy and she would come back with marks and cuts. One day he started screaming. The rest of us were hiding. Mum screamed because of dad and they found her and started hurting her. Then Mack came out of hiding to try and help. By then, I had fainted, but I remember the 2 earthbenders. What they looked like. What they wore. I remember them. And next thing I knew daddy was carrying me away. We got very far away from Namal. I wanted to go back. He would always stop me. One day we ran into some people. They had the same symbol on their clothes as the 2 earthbenders, only they wore different coloured clothes. They didn't see me though because daddy put me up in a tree to hide me, but I sed that to get away"

Neren looked at the woman without stopping to speak. "And then I found Maro"

And then she turned to Maro still without stopping "And she brought me back here"

She gave Maro the weakest, most pathetic smile which Maro returned, her eyes too were bloodshot.

Then the lady who carried Neran out spoke; her head was down facing the ground and her eyes were closed.

"What symbol was it.. The one… The one the people wore"

"It was a yellow triangle with a black bear standing on two feet"

Suddenly, the woman raised her head as her fear struck eyes opened wide as if she had just felt the presence of a ghost. She shuffled over the ground and grabbed Neran tightly.

"It's ok, Neran. It's ok.. You can… You can come and live with us. Yes. We'll protect you" she said.

"Protect? Protect from whom?" whispered Maro over Nerans shoulder so that the woman could hear.

"Baker-Kolts"

As if pushed, Maro fell on her back, her elbows supporting her weight. "Fucking spirits" she murmured to herself.

"You're welcome to come too, Maro"

Maro sat up again, quickly snapping out of the trance that last statement put her in.

"Thanks but no thanks. I got stuff I gotta do"

And with that, she hopped on up and started walking away. Tears restarting to flow. The sound of small footsteps running up to her from behind could be heard.

"Maro!" shouted Neran from behind, and as she did so, Maro turned around, got down to her level and gave her a tight hug.

"Hey Neran, listen up. I said I would take you too Namal… And look! Here we are! You're gonna be safe here"

Neran took her head of from Maro's shoulder and while still grabbing onto her, her pressed her nose to Maro's nose.

"I know" she replied. "We did well"

They both smiled at each other while their faces were pressed. Their miserable, teary faces began to shine under the evening sun. And with that, Maro let go of Neran and started walking off again.

After some walking down the hill towards the port, she found a little corner by some walls and some bushes to lay down in and start sobbing for a while. At first she was haunted by what she had previously seen, but then it was just the thought that she would never see Neran again. But eventually the sobbing died down into nothing but sniffling. Maro sat up and watched as the sun set to her left. She had a pretty good view over the bush. She then got up and decided that enough time has already been spent outside of her new home, and that it was time to move on and take the next step into her life. That so she went onwards.

"Oh spirits" said Maro while walking along the wharf. "I've gone too far, haven't I?". The light was beginning to fade. She was walking according to the instructions of someone she had asked on a previous Jetty, but to no avail, it would seem. "Maybe I'll ask these fellows"

In front of Maro there was a Jetty with 2 large ships and men loading them. She walked over the snow covered jetty under clear dark orange skies.

"Excuse me" she said while the men were loading.

One man left what he was doing and took 2 stride towards Maro. "Yo, what's up"

"I'm looking for the ferry. Do you know where it is?"

"About half a kilometer that way" he pointed in the direction that Maro came from. "But it only leaves twice a day… Usually… you've missed the last one for today by a long shot, missy"

Maro sighed. "Alright then, I guess I'll find somewhere to hole up for the night. Thanks mister.

"Wait there, missy. You can ride with us if ya like? We sail tonight! The more the merrier, that's what we always say" The man smiled. "Well... One of the many things we always say"

Maro was sceptical. She looked over the man's shoulder at the other men loading the boat.

"Pardon me, but you'll forgive a lady for not simply climbing aboard a ship full of men. Right?"

"Oh, but it's not like that, you see. Wait here a minute" He took the box he was handling before and climbed aboard his ship. Some minutes later a young woman looking like she could have been in her late 20s climbed out of the ship.

"Hey there" she walked up to Maro and said. "My name is Sheza, and I'm the captain of this here ship. We'll be glad to give you a bed and some food along the four day sail from here to the docs of Narrine.

"Thanks, but pardon me for asking why?"

"Walk and talk, shall we?"

The 2 ladies started walking along the jetty to the ship.

"We're like a family, you see. We like to help those who are lost, for we have all been lost at one stage in our lives. If you like what you see, remember there is always space for you here at our family"

"Well that's nice. Where is your home?"

They started climbing the nets onto the ship.

"We have a number of homes. Actually, that's what brings us here today! We wanna expand and create a home in the North Pole"

"Well that sounds great! It seems our destinies are alligned. I too want to make a new home at the north pole. Maybe I will join you if you can create this northern house"

They were now on the ship, and Sheza smiled at Maro. Maro now got to get a good look at her. She was slightly taller than Maro with brown skin and brown hair coming down to her shoulders that was tied into 2 pigtails from the bottom. She also had freckles and wore glasses.

"Come" said Sheza. "I'll show you to your room"

They walked along the main deck, all light had failed, save from the torches on the ship and from the moon and the vibrant blanket of stars covering the night sky.

"Everyone to your stations!" Shouted Sheza as they did so. Everyone started running around. "Prepare for departure!"

"Eye eye captain!" Was the response shouted by the rest of the crew.

Maro stood in her spot for a second in awe gaping at the gigantic sail which was now being unraveled over her head. All of a sudden an image popped into her head. It was the memory of Heathah clinging of her life in Haritz.

The world stood still for a moment.

Maro's eyes widened.

Her heart ached and sped up.

Slowly, a symbol was beginning to show itself on the sail.

And suddenly everything grew a lot colder.

The Baker-Kolts.

They weren't planning an assault over the fire nation.

They were planning to attack…

The Northern Water Tribe


	8. Chapter 8 - First Impressions

Maro ran. Hard. the wind coming strong from her left, to her right, the sun was beginning to show itself through the cracks of the sky. Snow fell from the cloud covered sky. As the young lady ran over the wide stone path encrusted in ice and snow. She remembered her seemingly endless 4 day trip on a boat belonging to the Baker-Kolts.

"Our leader, Kolt, had a dream" said Sheza. "He wanted to create a family where all benders are equal and powerful. We find strength in unity!"

Maro snapped back on her path.

'Unity!' she thought to herself. 'HUH! What do they even know about _unity_?'

'More than you' came another voice from Maros head.

'What? No ways! Do you know where I was raised?'

'Not in the Foggy Swamp. It may be that you're from there, but you were raised right here, where you are now'

'What? No, I… Wait a second. Why do I even care so much, it's not like I even wanted to live in that boring doomed spirit trap where my potential was locked up in a cage of ignorance. HERE! It is here where my dream lies!'

And with that thought, what seemed to be a fortified settlement appeared on Maros right through the fog of the North Pole, and as she got close to it, she noticed the path came to a split.

She took the right to the village. Although Sheza told her to go straight on the path to reach The Tribe, Maro figured that she needed to warn people as soon as possible, and that the people here could help her.

She slackened her pace as she got closer and closer. A puff of mist appeared before her face after every life draining breath she took accompanied by a rather disturbing wheeze.

Maro met eyes with 2 women standing over the gates of this settlement. She approached them, and the one on the left broke the first words.

"Go away savilian. Military business only"

"Please!" pleaded Maro, tears starting to form from exhaustion. "I need…"

The same woman didn't let her finish. "Whatever it is you're looking for, you won't find it here! Now scat! Come now! Off with you already!"

Maro wasn't gonna give up here. Not while she was sure that the Baker-Kolts were preparing their attack.

"This is millitary business! No… A military emergency!"

"No, it's not, you're out of uniform. Now move, before I move you by force!"

"They're coming to attack! The Baker-Kolts! They're…"

"Edem, go get someone to take care of her…" said a new female voice.

Maro continued. "Xeo! You know Xeo, right? Your old general? He's leading this invasion!"

The original woman gave a horrified and yet furious look at Maro. "Edem, come back. On second thought, I'm going to deal with her myself"

As through in a fit of rage, a the owner of the new voice appeared from the top of the gate and unsheathed her long sword, and held it backwards, high up in the air. She wedged it into gate, for it and the walls were made of ice, and jumped over the gate she was standing upon and slid down the wall onto the stone path. She fell with such a mighty thump, that maro fell over into a puddle of her needlessly long hair from which she tried to get up twice, and slipped.

The new woman took some steps until she was in front of Maro, sword still in hand.

Maro gave an expression of absolute horror. The woman sheathed her sword.

"Alright, this is how it's gonna work" she said in her stern intimidating way. And then she grabbed Maro from her blue jacket, picked her up into the air and slammed her back into the gate of ice. As if Maro wasn't cold enough as it is. She was now absolutely freezing and in a world of pain and nearly impossible breathing.

"You're no member of the Water Tribe, you fuck-arsed fool, you're much too white for that!" She paused for a moment to let that sink in.

"So who the fuck are you and tell me everything you fucking know about Xeo"

Maro found it more difficult than ever to get the words out now.

"Xeo was was a general of the army, but he was banished. I don't know why. But he was banished with Heathah and…"

A quick jolt which moved Maro slightly higher up the gate stopped her words.

"Ok, now you're gonna tell me everything you know about Xeo **AND HEATHAH! AND THE SMALL COUNCIL** "

"I don't know anything about the small council! I swear! But I met Heathah and Xeo! Not together, Xeo was hunting down Heathah. He offered me a reward for her capture, and I found her, but I didn't hand her over. Instead I just spoke to her and she told me about how they got banished and joined the Baker-Kolts. Then Xeo wanted to attack The Tribe so she left and he started hunting her down" Granted that wasn't the full story, but Maro was just trying to get to the point.

"Bullshit! Why didn't Heathah come here herself!

Maro opened her mouth to speak, but instead of words came vomit.

"Arg!" Shouted the woman who then threw Maro to the side and started to waterbend the vomit off her.

Maro was now smeared along the path, her hair now lay over her like a blanket.

"Heathah…" Said Maro softly plagued by pain, cold, exhaustion and now vomit. "Is dead"

The woman widened her eyes in shock and fell on her knees. She now completely changed her tone of voice.

"What!? No! It can't be…" She looked over at the lousy mess which was Maro. Tears could now be added to things that was was being plagued with.

"Did you know Heathah?" Asked Maro softly through her hair.

"Who did it? Was it Xeo?"

"No. She fell to the hands… Or arrows I should say… of Baker-Kolts" She paused for a minute. "Of which Xeo is now a leader."

The woman picked herself up, but didn't return to her angry, intimidating self.

"There's no way I can tell if anything you've said is true" She too now paused for a minute looking over as the sun started to come over the great gate of ice. "But there's also no way I can ignore such a serious potential threat. Come inside and tell me _everything_ you know. But know this, if we find out that you're lying, the penalty is second degree execution"

"Well I'm definitely not lying" said Maro softly as she attempted to stand up, but her legs seemed to not be able to support her. The woman grabbed Maro and lifted her up so that Maro was standing up and then tore her sleeve off the shirt she was wearing and then chucked it at Maro.

"Blind fold yourself" She said.

Maro did so and then asked "Why?"

"Incase you're a filthy little liar and you and I aren't on the same team like you claim"

She tied to fabric around her eyes and was pushed around until she was told she could take it off.

Around her she heard noises of people in the distance and things shifting around her, but all she could feel was the numbing cold.

She took off her blindfold to find herself in a small room with nothing but a table and some chairs around. The walls were made of stone and held 2 wooden doors on the front and back.

"Sit" said the woman. Maro obeyed as the woman took a seat on the opposite side of the table. Maro sat tall and stiff with nerve, while the woman slouched on her chair.

"It's a shame this base doesn't have an interrogation room..." she tarted. "My name is Tarn, but you will refer to me as mam. I am the commander of this base. Now tell me what are we up against"

"An army. One like the world has never seen the likes of. They carry no weapons of siege. Only men. Men of Earth, Fire and Water"

"Impossible. How can this be?"

"It was started up in the Earth Kingdom. They have bases in the Fire Nation and took in nearly all of the exiles from the North Pole, including Xeo"

"How do you know this?"

"I traveled here with them, giving them the allusion that I would join them"

"A double agent. Impressive. What are the numbers? I guess around 500 waterbenders, considering the age of the Baker-Kolts?"

"It's hard to say. I came aboard one of the first ships to arrive here. Definitely thousands. It looks like they rounded up all of the Kolts from all over the Northern hemisphere. All trained in fighting. One way or another"

Tarn smashed the desk. "Damnit. There will be thousands of them" She paused for a moment. "They will be here really soon, won't they? Fine. Time to take huge leaps here. Remember what happens to you if you're wrong"

Tarn got up and knocked on the door closest to her. It opened and a guy walked in and saluted with her. He put his hand down and saluted again this time saying "Yes commander, mam!" before putting his hand down.

"Send an override order for an emergency forward mobilisation! Also, send an emergency message to the Earth Forces for help, although it will most probably not be of any use to us.

They saluted again as he said "Yes commander, mam!" then he took out a slip of paper which Tarn signed and and he bolted off.

Tarn turned back to Maro. "Blindfold back on"

"Yes mam" replied Maro and when she took it back off again she was right back in the front of the base where she started.

"Off with you now" said Tarn and started climbing the wall with her water bending.

"Wait!" shouted Maro "What am I supposed to do now"

Tarn didn't stop or even face her. "Not my issue" she said and disappeared over the wall.

Maro sat there for a moment and then got up. She started warily walking along the path that brought her to the base and thought that she would go to the Water Tribe. Best be far away from the fighting when it happens.

And now she walked slowly through the dark daytime, head down. The snow falling from the sky would occasionally get in her eyes and temporarily blind her, and although the wind was always beating down on her, sometimes it would pick up and throw her off the path,slamming her into deep snow. But she would get up and start walking again.

She didn't have her bag on her. She threw it off the ship so that the Kolts couldn't get it. She knew it would slow her down and she may not make it in time.

Smash. She was pushed hard into the snow by the wind again.

"Ow" came a voice from within the snow underneath her.

Maro took her hand and brushed the snow over where she was now lying. A face was uncovered from the snow.

"Oh. Hi Maro!"

Maro began freaking out. She started scrambling out of the ditch and back onto the path where she got tangled in her hair again and couldn't get up.

And out of the ditch rose the girl. She stood on the path in front of Maro, their hair equally as long.

"Why the look?" she asked Maro. "Come on! We made it! Be happy!" she said with a beaming smile and a chuckle of happiness could be heard in her voice.

Maro closed her eyes, untangled herself and opened them again. The girl was gone. Maro looked around but all she could see was snow and fog, so she stood up and kept walking.

And walking.

And walking.

With no food or water.

She tried bending the snow into water, but it didn't work. It seemed like years ago since she even attempted to work on her bending. She wondered if she could still do it at all.

She got to a barricade, guarded by a man. It was made out of thick wooden logs leaning against each other. She walked right into the barricade before she realised it was real.

"Ahhh… Are you ok?" The man asked her.

Maro brought her head up to look at him. Suddenly, she snapped out of her trance.

"I'm just going to… Ahhh… You wouldn't happen to have any water by any chance, would you?"

"Put out your hands" said the guy, and as Maro did so he bent the snow into water and placed it in Maro's gloves. It was warm! She scoffed it down.

"More please!"

"I'll just keep it coming"

She kept drinking until she felt like she was gonna burst and then splashed some of the warm water on her face, but the guy bent it off.

"That was not a good idea" he said.

"Why not?"

"It'll freeze on your face! You'll become a popsicle" he said with a chuckle at the end.

"What's a popsicle?"

"Never mind. You know you can't go this way though, right?"

"Ummmm… Why not? This is the way to the Tribe, right?"

"Yes, and I'm not entirely sure to be honest. Just today we were given orders for a total internal blockade. Nothing goes in or out. I also noticed a whole lot of military activity from all over. Scary stuff. Who knows what's going on, really?"

"I do! And I'll tell you if you let me in! Please, I can't stay out here. It's not safe"

The guy shook his head slowly.

"There's no way you can get in there under any circumstance. Even if I did let you in, they'd shoot you on the spot. I know this seems like an impossible situation to you, but it also does to me and honestly I have no idea what I would do if our positions were reversed" He paused for a moment. "Actually, if you turn around and take the first right you'll be on your way to a small village. There are a bunch of villages on the outskirts of the tribe. Maybe you could seek refuge there?"

Maro flashed a sharp look at him. "Thanks" she said attempting a smile and a small wave before turning around on her way.

Surely enough, she found the turn she was looking for. This new path wasn't like the one was was traveling long until now. It went up and down snowy hills and to her left she could see far down because the path seemed to be over a high area and there was quite the decline along the terrane to her left, not to mention that the fog was beginning to fail, and the snow to lessen.

Maro gazed with awe over the snowy plains and hills on her left while to her right was mostly flat and foggy.

She noticed something peculiar to her left. 'Surly my eyes deceive me' said Maro. But as black lines turned into rows of people, she started to realise the they do not. Her eyes widened as her heart tripled its speed. Without a moment to spare, she turned to her right and ran off the path into the snow. It was impossible to run in there, and she tripped. As the young traveller picked herself up she saw more lines of people coming out of the fog in front of her.

Now scared to death, she ran back to the path and started running back to where she came from. But it seemed to be no use. The lines on either side of her started closing in. Started suffocating her. She deviated from the path and found a tiny cliff side to hide under, where she covered herself with snow. She occasionally peeked over the ledge to see what was going on.

The Water tribe forces on the right had stopped marching and there was and there were big guys giving them pep talks. Maro couldn't hear anything over the winds which were now dying down anyway.

The Kolts also just stood there doing nothing but staring ahead for a while. And then a barrage of rocks and arrow flew over them and came awards the Water Forces. They retaliated by shouting and started running to the Kotls. The Kot's changed their stance so as to look like they were rooted to their spot. The water forces ran at the Kolts and they engaged. A clash of the elements was witnessed by Maro as Water, Earth and Fire were being tumbled around under the harsh winds of the north. It was mostly happening to her right, but there was a bit of fighting to her left too. An arrow fell onto the cliff that was protecting her and she grabbed said arrow from the ice in which it was lodged into.

Maro condensed herself into the cliff as much as she could. The snow around her seemed to be flowing red, but Maro had decided she had had enough instability for one day. She simply remained still, closed her eyes, and attempted to clear her mind from anything.

Naturally, at first it was really hard. Her mind kept wandering off into fear. Another thing that hindered was a small fight that happened right next to her on her left. Her eyes were closed so all she could hear was the swooshing of water around her and the 2 people (one male one female) conversing as they came head to head.

"So this is it, huh!" said the male.

"It finally comes down to this"

"You were weak! and now you will get what is coming to you"

The sound of tearing flesh could be heard.

"Look at yourself. Look what what you have become. You are nothing but hate now! Can there be no reconcile?"

" **Reconcile**!? How dare you speak to me of reconcile as you march here with your own army and kill my brethren! _Our_ brethren!"

"I did was best for my family then, and I do so now too. I am sorry"

"I am not"

And with that, a great scream was heard from the female and Maro could feel the warmth of blood spray around her and engulf her as it flowed around her.

Some time passed. Maro had no idea how much, but eventually she lost her connection with whatever was going on around her and she fell into a state of trance. Her legs started to tingle and this feeling kept rising along her whole body.

Soon she couldn't move as she felt like she was covered by a blanket of metal, her whole body tingling. In those moments, there was nothing.

No Tribe, no North Pole, no battle, no nothing.

And then the blanket snapped, and it felt like Maro had woken up from a long night's sleep.

She opened her eyes. All she could see was red and white. All she could feel was numbness.

She whipped the red snow off of her that she could see a brown stained plane of snow. No more Kolts where to be seen. Only dead and wounded men and women of the Water Forces. Some were tending to others.

Maro stood up now. She was deeply saddened by the thought that everyone who had died had a family and a life. People they knew. People they loved. Identities. Some of these people will be forgotten. Why? What for? So that their families and loved ones would not. A tear was shed for the fallen and Maro started walking along the battlefield watching the medics use water as healing.

'Water!' thought Maro to herself. 'I haven't practiced waterbending in months!'

But her train of thought was now interrupted by a conversation she was now over hearing and awkwardly standing behind. It was between a reasonable old man wearing Water Forces uniform and a younger man also wearing Water Forces uniform. The younger man started the conversation.

"Commander, any news from the front lines, Sir?"

"I was hoping you could tell _me_ , I wasn't on the front lines"

"Yes commander, sir. We managed to push them back quite a bit, so I presume that's good news… Though i was hoping for more"

"You can stop with the formalities now. I hereby retire from the Water Forces. Two wars is two too many for me" he paused and continued "We managed to push them back only because they realised they were at a tactical disadvantage here due to our elevated advantage. Nonetheless that did end up working nicely for us, and it's all thanks to our anonymous warning. But nonetheless we will lose. They outnumber us too much"

"But…"

"How is it that everyone seems to hate us, hm? What have we been doing wrong?"

"Perhaps it's time for us to start relations with the outer world…"

"If it wasn't for the battle of Koizilla, we could probably take these guys on, but that battle weakened us way too much. Well regardless of what happens, I am going to stand my ground right here and if any son-of-a-bitch Kolt want's to pass, they have to go through me first. And that applies doubly for Xeo the mother-fucker"

There was silence for some time while the 2 men gazed off into the distance.

Suddenly, some fast moving blurry shapes started to come into focus from the distance. It was a great big horde of polarbear-dog riders, headed right in this direction. One was riding ahead and came to speak to the older one.

"Commander, were doing a full retreat back to our gates. We can probably hold them off better from there. If you have any orders concerning the troops here, I will execute them, sir"

The x-commander replied: "Take everyone here back into the tribal lands"

"Yes commander, sir"

Then the regiment of riders arrived and carried everyone back with them. The x-commander stayed just like he said he would.

Maro hid herself in the snow. She didn't want to deal with anymore army people after her experience with Tarn. Only her and the man stayed, who dramatically narrated what he saw out loud.

"And through the mist in the background appears the soldiers of the Water forces, running for their lives in the thousands.

As they approached closer and closer, Baker-Kolts can be seen chasing after them. Little do they realise it, but they are about to reckon with their greatest force yet… Me!

Oh wait, what is this… the Water forces are slowing down… They can't _all_ have death wishes...

Now they are all here around me and they have stopped at the top of these hills. I guess we shall fight to the end together!

Oh wait again, something stranger still is happening. The Kolts are also slowing down. What are they thinking?

Hang on… what are those in the distance… Are they? No… They can't be

 **Oh spirits, they ARE!** Ostrich-horse riders! Tens of thousands of them! Impossible! It can't be! The Earth Kingdom is here to save us! How could they have possibly known!"

Maro popped her head out of the snow to the sight of the Kolts as they reached the foot of the hills, they stood still as massive rocks rained down from the sky over them. They started climbing the hills to defend themselves, but they could only be met with angry Water Forces. It wasn't long at all before the army of the Earth Kingdom had also clashed with the Kolts, but not before Maro noticed something. The riders were being led by someone wearing blue. A woman. It was… Heathah!

Maro teared up at the sight her her valiantly riding into battle on her ostrich-horse as the rest of the riders followed, and Maro now got out of the snow.

The riders pierced their way into into crowd with tremendous force. Large pieces of brown earth now contrasted the blue colour of darting water through the air. There were many earthbenders amongst the Kolts, but none of which had military bending training, and the difference was showing despite the riders so out of their element and not used to this terrain and these conditions.

Maro was witness to the swords, elements and people as they clashed. Blood shed could be seen anywhere. She looked up into the sky, but all that could be seen where dark grey clouds as she waddled along to where she saw Heathah engaging the enemy.

Even without looking, the noise alone from the scene was enough to make Maro feel incredibly sick, let alone the smell, but she had nothing to throw up at this point, save for some water which she battled to hold in for she knew she needed it.

However, all these feelings were forgotten once she heard a familiar voice. She looked over at Heathah, who was fighting from on top of her stead; men and women alike were falling to her blade. Soon after Maro caught sight of her, the ostrich horse died of a water slash to the neck, and made a horrible screeching noise as it did so. That was not enough to stop Heathah as she took down her last foe with a swift strike of her blade that sliced through his chest.

Heathah, now with an angry expression on her face surveyed the area for Kolts but there were none.

"Why is it that we can never meet under peaceful circumstances?" Asked Maro to Heathah, but it seemed she was standing too far away from Heathah for her to hear her.

Maro smiled, although her face wasn't much of a sight right now since her hair was so messed up, her eyes were bloodshot and her skin had become the same colour as all the snow around.

Heathah was standing looking around for another fight. She was standing at a perpendicular angle to Maro. Maro now ran so she was now looking at Heathah front on. She called out to Heathah but didn't get to finish that sentence as she was rudely interrupted by a sword coming out from Heathah's chest.

The young traveler was running to Heathah, while looking down at Heathahs new wound. MaroMaro continued running in hope that Heathah would acknowledge her presence.

"Well isn't this awkward…" said Heathah with a smile as the sword retracted back from behind her she fell down on her back.

Maro shouted Heathah's name out as loud as was humanly possible as she finally got to her friend and fell on her knees beside her.

The perpetrator was never seen.

The world went silent around Maro.

Heathah fell on her side and started closing her eyes. She looked like she was ready for a good night's sleep.

But Maro was not ready to let her have it.

Maro now also fell onto her knees and grabbed Heathah by her blue clothing.

"No! You can't stop now… You can't!"

"Well, sure I can. Why not? After all, I did the thing. There's nothing left for me…

I think this is a pretty good place for my journey to end. A death like this is all one who betrayed her country can hope for after all. Death in honourable combat" said Heathah as though she was talking to a tray voice rather than to Maro.

"Your journey however, must go on. After all, the world is round, and that means that you can walk and walk forever without stop. And who knows? Maybe, one day, you'll find yourself right back where you started. Like me"

"No! This isn't how it should end for you! I'm sure you can go back and live happily in the tribe now! You're a hero!"

"But there's nobody there for me"

She said still failing to acknowledge Maro, and with one last smile and descended into the snow.

Maro started crying. So hard that she became numb and tingly all over. She could not keep her mouth shut, and started drooling all over Heathah and her blood drenched clothes. She pressed her face into the warm pool of blood surrounding Heathahs chest.

An indefinite amount of time had passed, and the world started coming back to Maro. She lifted her heavy head up, snow fell from her hair in every direction as a Kolt with a blue banishment tattoo on his right eye caught the young traveller in his gaze..

"Hey… I know you!" He said looking at Maro

Maro shuffled out of the snow that she was now half submerged in as it was falling from the sky. Her memory was a bit hazy, but she was rather sure she was looking at Xeo. There were a bunch of Water Tribesmen in uniform standing around behind him, and a baker Kolt with white streaks in his hair standing right behind him. Heathahs body was now fully submerged in snow.

A voice came from behind her: "Oi, you can't be here, this area is for officers only"

She turned around and looked at the old moustached man right behind her and realised that she was surrounded by a circle of Water Tribesmen. A lot of which looked like they had just fought a war. A hand fell on Maro's shoulder. The owner said:

"Do you know who you're talking too? If it wasn't for this one, we'd all be living in Kolt-city by now…"

Maro faced the voice that said that to see that it was Tarn. Her other arm was replaced by a dripping red bandaged stump.

Another voice came from the right. "Well then, we'll wanna have a word with her later. But back to Xeo for now…

"Guys, it's ok. No hurry" said Xeo with a smile

"No, you're right. The slower the better!" came a random voice from around which sent everyone else into a short laugh.

"Enough already! Let's go" said the man next to Xeo

"Wow, we gotta feisty one here!" came a random voice followed by the same reaction.

"Where are your patience, Mr. Kolt? You're gonna need 'em for what's to come!" said the voice from the right. The person who said that was where the moist tribesmen could be seen, and the person stood in front of the like he was someone important or something.

Turn pulled Maro back out to the rim of the circle.

"What's to come?" asked Kolt

"Oh, your business partner didn't tell you? Well, we wouldn't wanna ruin the surprise for you, in that case!"

The crowd laughed.

Tarn started talking softly into Maros ear.

"They'll sentence him and Xeo to third degree execution.

First degree - Quick and painless. They'll feed you a poison, and you won't wake up from your next sleep.

Second degree - Quick but very painful. A professional executioner will send a bolt of water from one side of you and out the other.

Third degree - Slow and VERY painful. They put cuts in your skin and tie you up on the tallest mountain; Mount Quinak, with no clothes on. You'll eventually freeze to death, but before that, you'll suffer severe frostbite…"  
"Ok! I don't wanna know!"

"Oh sorry. Yeah, I guess you're right. I was interested in this kinda stuff when I was about your age, so…"

The meeting continued.

"I remember a time when this place wasn't run by such cowards! When leaders had the will to do what was necessary for the best!" came Xeo

"For the best?" Repeated the man on the right. "You think that marching in here with your Kolts is for the best? It seems like you're as blind as ever, and I didn't even mean for your mark to be placed there out of irony" The man paused for a second. Some small chuckles were heard. "The time for talking is over, it's ti…" But he was interrupted by Xeo.

"The time for cower is over! Fight me to the death if you're even man enough, Dered!"

"Haven't you humiliated yourself enough today! That's chief Theoden to you, Xeo, as much as I know you like to forget it" The crowd laughed hard at this random voice. Now Kolt seemed to have lost it.

He started moving his arms and they sparked as he said "Soon you'll see why they call me..." he started saying but stopped due to that the person standing on the chiefs right sent a splash of water to encase Kolts hands in a block of ice.

Chief Theoden spoke again. "You think that you can escape your fate, but you can not. It is impossible now, just like it is impossible for you to win. This I am sure of. So sure, in fact, that I will let you have your fight, but it will not be a fight to the death. I will not rob you of your execution. Furthermore, if you win, I will let you choose to die by which ever means you wish. But when you loose, you will live for as many days as it takes for you to regret your actions"

Xeo gave a hard smile.

"Sumo match. Me and you, right now, let's go!"

"Ok. We'll go. But it will not be me you'll be fighting. You will fight Bartoq"

"What!? No, I didn't consent to this…" said the guy standing next to Theoden

"Come on Bartoq. If you do it, I'll throw in some nice funds for your academy" he said is a softer, more casual voice as the cowered oooo'ed and the Chief let loose a software glimmer of smile.

"Can't we just get it over with him already?"

"And miss this opportunity to humiliate Xeo some more? Nay!"

Bartoq sighed, but took a step forward. Then the crowd cheered and moved back into a square position where the boundaries were carved into the snow.

Kolt was pulled to the side leaving Bartoq and Xeo in the middle.

They would now literally do battle over Heathahs body.

Chief Theoden had dark brown skin, deep blue eyes and no hair apart from a Van Dyke beard with a mustache completing it. His hair was a dark gray, leaving no doubt that was he clearly aging.

Bartoq on the other hand had lighter coloured skin. His eyes where a flushed out blue and his hair was very messy, and seemed to grow in every direction, except for one small platt that came down the left side of this face and ended with a light blue bead at his jaw level. Bartoq was about a forehead taller than Theoden, but much less muscular.

Xeo was ready to go.

Bartoq closed his eyes and lowered his head like he was regretting something.

Xeo gave the first strike. A quick and concise arm movement sent sent a dart of water right at his opponent.

Bartoq didn't even move. He calmly let the dart miss him. But Xeo didn't wait for a retaliation. He started running at Bartoq, swirling and flinging water at incomprehensible speeds. Slashes and arches.

And now Bartoq decided it was time to start moving and matching everything that was being sent to him, and started redirecting and sending his own barrages, though mainly redirecting, as adding even more speed to the flusters of water, which didn't even seem possible.

They exchanged some discourse as they went at each other. Bartoq started.

"Do you remember me?"

"Should I?"

"Yeah, maybe. You were my sergeant commander back when I was in the forces."

"Oh… You know what? I vaguely remember you… I think"

"You would tell me 'if it aint broke, don't fix it'. Remember?"

"Oh yeah! Now I remember you. I still stand by those words"

Xeo would take water from the ground and launch it, and even better would be when he would take something that was coming at him and twist it so that it would return to where it came from.

But Bartoq… He had a different style of fighting. It was very captivating to watch him. It was almost hypnotic. He would had a sort of rhythm going where he would change his style once after a set interval of time. At some points he looked more like he was dancing than fighting.

He rooted his feet into the snow, the lifted a thick pane of ice that shielded him from from some incoming attacks. Heathahs body remained hidden. He threw the pane at Xeo with such force that when he tried to stop it himself, he completely fell over. While his hair did mess up, it wasn't enough to phase Xeo yet. He got up and started spraying Xeo with shots of water. Bartoq simply maneuvered around them in spiral motions in a calm manner (although the some water occasional hit him and he bled from the spot) until Xeo started running up at him in which case Bartoq slashed a water arch at Xeo which he redirected into Bartoq who punched through it as it came back to him. He took some deep breaths and started bolting water from his hands but also from his feet this time.

Xeo leaped at Bartoq but Bartoq got down and grabbed his clothes and assisted gravity in hardening his fall into the snow.

Bartoq was now tattered a fair amount more than Xeo, but that didn't stop him from taking this opportunity to strike while Xeo was down. He slashed water and made a huge horizontal slice into his back.

Xeo quickly got up. The smile had finally faded from his face and they were now both close to the boundaries; Bartoq being the closer one. Xeo tried to take this into his advantage and sent a thick hose of water to try and flush Bartoq out, Bartoq once again rooted himself into the snow and put his hands out to absorb the energy from the flowing water. He froze a large chunk of it, but before he could sent it back, Xeo knocked it out of his grip. But while Xeo was doing that, Bartoq threw a javelin of ice which tore a chunk of flesh out of Xeo's neck. Bartoq then used light flowing motion with his hands to direct himself right infront of Xeo, which allowed him to grab the water strike that Xeo was preparing. Xeo put all of his force into that strike, and Bartoq used that force against him to swirl Xeo around him and then throw him right out of the boundary as a bunch of people standing around took a step back.

Kolt ran to help Xeo up and asked the following with his arm around Xeos shoulders:

"Will you still honour your word?"

"Yea, no problem" He nodded at a baker kolt behind him who ran off.

"Well then. My time is up, and I must say I'm not disappointed. Let it be known from now on that the Baker-Kolts are now known as the Triple Threat Triads as we now possess three elements under our control. From this defeat, we will continue our work. Let my son Zolt run the show as soon as he's old enough"

And with that, they were taken away and everyone started marching home.


	9. Chapter 9 - Not Too Far

Maro sat with her head buried deep into her arms, which were resting along the great table she was sitting at. Her stomach felt hollow as she struggled to keep her eyes open. She heard a door opening and judged the rest of the sounds around her to deduce that someone had just walked in and sat opposite her.

She lifted her head and peered through her knotted hair at Bartoq who was sitting in a very dignified manner. She fell back into her own arms.

"Good morning" he said. "I heard you slept on the couch. I hope you didn't sleep too badly…" he paused for some moments. "I apologise that Theoden couldn't be a better host, but as you can imagine things have been pretty hectic since you showed up"

Maro was silent.

The doors of the great council room opened up again and Maro lifted her head in time to see a lady on a wheelchair being pushed by an old man with white hair and a great moustache.

Bartoq spoke again. "Tarn… You look terrible"

"Well, at least I look as I feel" she replied in a washed out voice.

"I'm sure your strength will come back to you. No matter what happens though, it's ok. We're here for you"

The old man greeted Bartoq; "Bartoq"

"Maes" was Bartoqs reply greeting.

Someone else came through the doors and sat down next to Maro. Maro didn't even lift up her head this time. She felt like she was half dreaming.

"I must say, you're rocking that eye patch damn well" said Maes.

"Oh, thank you!" Said a female voice. "But then again, my bad aresery was never really that hard too.. SEE!"

"Oh spirits, Ferra" said Bartoq.

Ferra spoke again: "Why does everyone look so gloomy? We won! Yay!" No one replied. "Is this her? You know…"

"Wait, you mean to tell me there's a person under all that hair?" Came Maes' voice

"That's her" came the faint sound of Tarn. "I'd recognise that hair anywhere"

At that moment the doors were opened with a loud thud and someone waltzed into the room.

"Sorry to keep ya waiting fellas" came the voice of Theoden who sat at the head of the table.

"That's ok, we're still waiting on Danji, anyway"

"Late as usual" said Maes and Theoden in sync which was followed by a laugh from everyone.

"Your guest is over tired…" said Bartoq

"I think we're all over tired. No?" was his reply.

"Speak for yourself!" said Ferra.

And then for the last time the doors opened and someone walked in and sat down next to Ferra.

"Sorry for being late" he said.

Maro lifted her head up and removed her hair from her face.

"Dark spirits… You look nearly as bad as me!" said Tarn.

"Yeah, one would think you just fought a war or something…" said Maes followed by small laughter.

Theoden spoke.

"Before we start, I wanna say sorry to Maro. At least, I hope you were fed something… Yes? Well, look on the bright side, you have it way better than those folk we decided to throw in prison; especially considering what I'm about to tell you regarding them. But I digress, more on that later.

"I would like to start off this meeting with some good news! We found Heathahs body, and will give her a most honorable military funeral. I will carry out the discharge myself. May her soul ride the eternal currents of peace"

Maro jolted her head and turned to look at Theoden at the mention of Heathah. As theoden finished saying that, the others chanted all together: "May her memory be a blessing of the moon"

Maro shivered and spoke for the first time. "May her memory be a blessing of the moon" she said softly before Theoden continued.

"As you already could have guessed, Xeo and Kolt are getting third deg. The officers we caught will get second deg if they're branded first otherwise. I wanna offer first deg to anyone who talks. I need to make sure we fully understand what is going here and that nothing like this ever happens again. Everyone else will be sent away and mass brandings will be given to those to don't already have, regardless of who they are and where they came from"

"I'll make sure it all happens as quickly as possible" said Danji. "I'ma get this spirit damned mess cleaned for all our sakes"

Theoden continued again.

"All that aside, I can't think of anything else that needs addressing at the moment other than the obvious, which will come at another time. It's a great thing they didn't get anywhere near the Tribe or any neighbouring villages, or else this would make a much larger problem for us like after the battle of Koizilla… Anyway, Tarn, I wanna hear what you have to say"

"Yes sir. Chen and I were doing patrol on the wall over the front gate. I figured it would be good for me. It seemed fate was at my side that day. When Maro appeared at our gates it was hard to say, but I looked at the time candle when I took her to base. It was around 6:20 in the morning. Usually I would just send lost people on their way, but she had some pretty loaded connotations to say. She told me about the Kotls and Heathah. None of us had any idea Heathah was on the way though. I really didn't believe her and it made me really mad, but I couldn't let something so serious slip by, so I threatened her with second deg and called a routine but full-scale mobilisation drill. I figured it would be good practice even if it were wrong. How I wish Maro was wrong" concluded Tarn with a short high pitched gasp. "There's… there's nothing more to say really" she finished with a slight stutter.

"Are you sure? I thought you would have more to say…"

"Well I'm sure things are more complex from Maro's perspective"

"Hmmm… Yes, I see" Theoden turned to face Maro.

"Maro, you are not a member of military, therefore you have no obligation to say anything. But please, if you will, I ask that you tell us as much as you can. You have already done the greatest service to us, and although it might not look it now, but you will be rewarded. I ask of one more deed, and that is all the tribe will ever ask of you. Such is my promise to you as chief of the Northern Water Tribe"

And so, Maro did as Theoden asked of her. She gave a full recount of her story, with regard to the series of events that led up to the siege in the north. At first she was slow and soft. Often pausing and speaking down into the table. Her fatigue impaired her cognition and ability to relay and keep track of thoughts, but then she began to awaken and words came from her mouth true and strong. Various party members occasionally asking the odd question. And then Maro finished, and there was silence for a while as members of the council absorbed all that was just given to them. In the meantime, Maro was struggling to keep herself lucid.

Theoden broke the silence. "Well, you've made it now. Well done! You've come quite a long way"

Maro smiled from underneath her hair. "Not too far"

"But what now?"

Maro paused. "I ahh… I don't know? I…" suddenly Maro was transported elsewhere and a smiling friend appeared before her. "I wanna learn waterbending" she stated as the council started to refocus around her. But before it could finish she was met with images of Heathah, doing what she did. "I wanna learn how to fight. I wanna fight… In the army" She finished and pulled a bunch of hair away from her face.

"Haha! Is that so!" interjected Maes. "Even after all you've been though? Well then, you've come at a prime time"

"An interesting time… I wouldn't call it anything more than that" said Ferra.

Bartoq sank in his chair.

"How old are you, Maro?" asked Theoden. "Any patrons in the Northern Armed Forces must be 18 years or over"

"I'm not sure…"

"Do you know what day you left by the swamp callender?" asked Bartoq.

"Nanni, 111"

"Wow, that's a good recollection"

"It's my birthday!"

"Oh I see. Well then, you've been travelling for about half a year then. That's impressive!"

"Are you sure about that? That doesn't seem to add up in my mind"

"Wait, wno that can't be… That would make you impossibly fast. A year and a half seams reasonable, actually. Does this sound about right to you?"

Eyes widened around the council at that remark. Everyone turned to face Maro. Her hair fell down her face again and she shrugged.

"Ok. That makes me 18 in 6 months"

"And only then can you join the military, so we'll have to find something to do with you until then" said Theoden. "Something suitable"

"I'll lean to bend water in the time period"

"Splendid idea! Now if only we knew someone who would be willing to teach a young lady how to bend water…"

This time everyone turned to Bartoq, who blushed and sank in his chair for the second time.

"Th… There isn't a level we can start her at" He said

"That's ok, she can have private tuition" came Danji

Theoden bellowed: "The Tribe'll pay for everything. We are in dept to this young traveller anyway, are we not? So it's settled then, Ok? Great! Bartoq, you and Maro can leave now. It looks like Maro's had about enough of our shit for today. I'm afraid we'll need to continue without her anyway"

Bartoq stood up. "C'mon Maro, let's find you a bed"

Maro too stood up from her chair and now followed Bartoq out of the room and out into the open.

The council room was right in the center of town. Although it was well into the morning, the blackened clouds voided the tribe of most of it's light, as if Maro was feeling dead enough as it was. She turned her head around to try and see the place that she dreamt so much about. But all she could see where flickering lights coming out of windows. Even still though, the positioning of the lights intrigues Maro into the structure of the building. It seemed like it could have been similar to Namal. All of the infrastructure seemed to made of snow and ice. Maro and Bartoq walked for a while, turning corners, crossing bridges and going up and down stairs.

"I know I don't look like it… Or sound like it either… But I'm really excited to learn to bend water"

"Glad to hear. Hopefully we can find you a good teacher"

"Wait, was that a joke? I don't understand… Aren't you teaching me?"

"Nope"

"Why did everyone stare at you then?"

Bartoq sighed. "I suppose there's a bunch of things you need to be filled in on.

Some years ago, we received a visit from the Avatar Aang. He and his companions inspired some of the village elders to change tradition. Beforehand females could only learn water to heal. They wouldn't learn it as an art or as fight style. The change didn't go down too well with some people. There will always be those that oppose change, I guess.

I was one of the biggest advocates for freedom of bending practices. I established the first women fighter bending unit in the military and the first and only multisex waterbending academy"

"Cooool! Was Heathah in that unit?"

"Heathah? Heathah wasn't a combatant at all… What even made you think that? Her role was as a senior logistics officer. Towards the end of her career I think she may have become a tactician or something. That would explain her role on the secret council, I think. Not that I know too much about that to be honest"

Maro took a minute to absorb all this. She lagged ever so slightly behind him, and noticed that she slouched as she walked, and he was walking slowly, although that could have just been for Maro's sake.

"Wait wait wait, but what does that have to do with you not teaching me? I saw you take on Xeo, you're an amazing warrior!"

"Me? Maybe. But there's no doubt I'm not a good teacher, from past experience. Tarn is an amazing warrior"

"Heathah too"

"What? Heathah never fought… What are you talking about?"

"What! But she was so good with her sword! I saw whitnessed her go at it on multioke occasions…:

"She must have had private lessons at some point. Anyway, I didn't really know her, however Tarn knew Heathah. Anyway, when we get to the academy, we're gonna find you a room to stay in for the next 6 months, and then we'll see to a good teacher"

"But I want you to teach me, Bartoq. Your fighting was mesmerising! It was almost… Almost..."

"Rhythmic?"

"Hypnotic, I was gonna say. Will the teacher you find me teach me to bend like that?"

"Ahhh… No"

"Well then, I'm afraid you'll have to teach that to me"

"While you were travelling, did you meet many other benders?"

"Oh yeah! Earthbenders, firebenders, waterbenders… You name it! Except airbenders as you can imagine"

"I see. Maybe I will teach you then"

"Yayayayay!'

"Probably not"

And with that, they walked down a large hill towards a large building.

They walked into the wide doorways into a very long horizontal room. There were benches along the walls, and people were sitting around talking and writing. Along the wall opposite the one from which they had entered, where a bunch of doors as large as the one that they entered from, except for right in front of them where there was a desk and a man slouching in a chair.

"Yo, Bartoq, what's up"

"I'm tired"

"Spirits, I'm tired and I didn't even fight a war. You gotta tell me all about it, eh?"

"Not now Warken. But we'll catch up, for sure. But for now, can you find me an unoccupied room in the women's dormitory for our newest student?"

"Yeah, sure. There definitely should be a bunch of rooms free, though I don't know if there are any single bedrooms left... But this is an awkward time to start studies… No?" He started flicking through some papers he pulled out of a draw under his desk"

"Let _us_ worry about that"

The guy behind the desk put on a pair of reading glasses. "I'll allocate room b261 to her. Shall I fetch you a key?"

"No, thanks. I'll get it"

He nodded and with that he made a left turn. The doors to their right had large windows and Maro could see a large courtyard outside though it was still pretty dark. There were people sitting in the snow around the trees. There was a small stall around the edge that was selling some sort of warm food, apparent by the line and the steam surrounding it.

"This is reception, and out there is the Koi Courtyard" said Bartoq. "You'll be living in building b on the floor two. Hence the first two parts of your room code. Building b is the women's dormitory. You'll learn your way around this place pretty quickly, I think"

They made a right turn into another long corridor, also with benches and also with a view of the courtyard as they were now on an adjacent edge of it. Bartoq unlocked one of the doors on the left and went in. "Wait outside". Maro peered into the room to see a whole lot of hooks on the walls with keys hanging from them.

"Catch" came his voice and after it a key flew from out the door. Maro caught it. It was as long has her hand and had 'a261' indented on it. "Don't lose that" he said and he came out of the room and locked it again. They exited into the courtyard where they proceeded to walk and weave around between buildings until they reached building b. Occasionally someone would greet Bartoq. Maro absorbed it all.

"Is all this the acadmy? All the buildings here?"

"Sure is"

"You founded this place? All of it?"

"Sure did. Only the spirits know how hard it was. But in the end, it was totally worth it"

"Wow"

"You can accomplish anything, Maro. If you will it; it is no dream"

They made it to a large building. "In here is where you stay. Only ladies are allowed in. In general though, if you're looking for something or some where, simply ask anyone around. The people here are pretty friendly. Also" he pointed in a direction behind "in that building over there you can grab a meal at any time between dawn and dusk. Just bring your room key or they won't let you in. I'll have someone bring you a study schedule soon enough. But for now, you get to rest.

In terms of what to do, well, I recommend you pick up a hobby or two. Being able to make your own clothes is a very useful skill here. Also there's a theater not too far away. I recommend you find some extra curricular activities, because with that will come friends and such"

"Will you teach me?"

"Teach you what? How to make friends? Or clothes?"

"No, bending you fool"

"Oh right. I haven't decided yet. Probably not. But why won't you believe me when I say you don't want me too?"

"I wanna learn to bend like you"

"That's irrelevant to my question"

"Well, why don't you at least show me why I'll hate having you as a teacher..."

"I see" and with that he walked off.

Maro was mid dream when to awoke to the sound of knocks on the door. Her heart started beating a little faster. She slipped of the bed and started walking to the door.

"It's me" said the door. Maro let out a deep breath as her heart returned to equilibrium. She opened the door. Out the window was still as dark as it was in the morning of the next day.

"Theoden is holding a funeral for Heathah tomorrow. It was debated as to whether it should be private, but… err… well, Theoden decided that the people of this tribe deserve to send off someone they owe their lives too together. Um… Regardless, I'm sure you would have been able to come… and… Uhh... Oh yes, that's right, Theoden wants to know if you'd give a eulogy"

"What's a eulogy?"

"Ahh, well… a eulogy is a speech you give in front of everyone at a funeral so that you may express what that person meant to you, I think"

"Oh. Hmm… Tomorrow you say?"

"Yes, I'll come get you"

"Can I give you my answer then?"

"Yeah sure. That'll give you some time to think about it and maybe write something down. I'll just get Theoden to be prepared for any situation"

"I don't know how to write… Or read"

"Oh… not even a little? Well I guess that makes sense. Don't worry about it. I'm sure you'll be fine regardless.

"I have had the absolute pleasure of knowing Heathah every day since we were toddlers" Tarns words echoed through the greate chamber made from ice, carved into the side of the mountain that housed the great waterfall. "I know the old expression; everyone is a top bloke when they die. And you would think that this would apply 10 fold since I am the only one standing here before you today who actually knew Heathah on a personal level" It was a good thing the chamber was so sound conductive, because otherwise nothing would have been able to be heard over the crashing sound of the waterfalls running water. "But I can tell you that this is purely circumstantial, and I don't want to in any way denote the 2 other beautiful eulogies given by Maro and Chief Theoden". It was very smooth and rounded, made from clear ice that went deep into the mountain. "When we were young, I had lost a sweet role. I thought that I knew who had taken it, so I got into a fist fight with that person. Heathah insisted that she ate my sweet role, when I knew she didn't. And that, I think is a testimony to nearly everything about what a character she truly was". Maro was merely a small face in a large crowd of people who had gathered there to pay respects to the now legendary water tribe warrior. No one she could recognise was amongst her. "I say almost because the story does not end there. You see, a short while after she managed to defuse me (A very difficult task, I can assure you), she went to the place where I last saw my sweet role and managed to perceive some polar bear dog hairs, and thus led us to the real thief which we caught red handed". Beyond the ledge, an absolutely mesmerising view of the tribal civilisation could be seen; for the sun had come out of hiding in light of this momentous occasion. "If it were not for some unfortunate mishaps, Heathah would have married and had a successful life and family". Maro shoved through the crowd to the front where she could now see the waterfall and Tarn standing at the very side edge of the chamber. "She bore a mark; a mark which I am not here now to debate on weather was earned or not. But I know that if it weren't for the events that led to her demise, she would not have let a mark kill her love of the tribe, nor her will to live and love like a normal person". Next to Tarn laying horizontally so that it was facing out of the cave was a block of pure white ice; inside lay Heathahs body unable to be seen through the cloudy texture of the ice. Her icy coffin was suspended over the ledge by two ice supports so that water from the waterfall trickled onto its end. "So it is with such a heavy heart that I may truly say that no matter what, her life was truly was cut short". One tear from Tarns right eye was all she could spare for the departed today. "An even though it is clear that we all owe her our gratitude, we do so not just because we would all be under oppressive occupation right now but because she was a true Northern Water Tribe warrior who lay her life so that we could continue to live ours normally". And with that, a moment of silence was bestowed upon the people of the tribe as Theoden made his way back from the crowd and took his position next to Tarn. They looked at each other, nodded and outreached their arms and clenched their fists in sync while the supports of the coffin shattered sending the icy coffin deep into the ferocious waters of the fall.

"May her soul ride the eternal currents of peace" Said to duo, to which the crowd all replied

"May her memory be a blessing of the moon"


	10. Chapter 10 - Glorious Sight

Squawk! Squawk!

"Stupid possum-dodos" Muttered a restless Maro sniggled deep in the warmth of her beddings; but not for long as she rolled off of the bed and hit the floor with her blanket.

She meagerly stood up, leaving the blanket to continue its rest on the light brown carpeted ground.

She left the small bedroom with nothing but a desk, chair bed and small closet and entered the living room with some sofas and a broad table in the middle, where the doors to the kitchen, bathroom and Mayka's room. Mayka must have been already up, since her door was open. She had also wound up the large metal clock, which was the only ornament decorating the walls that made up this room.

With squinted eyes, Maro dragged herself into the bathroom where a blurred Maro could been seen peering back at her though the mirror.

Maro outreached her hand and rubbed a window into the mirror where a now clear and defined Maro was looking at back her, her hair as long and radiant as ever. A Maro with skin that was nowhere near as pale as before, and hair that didn't go past her shoulders.

She finished up her morning ritual and even had a bite to eat before left put on her thick coat and left out into the hall where the doors of all her neighbours could be seen. So many doors.

She walked out of of her dormitory building and into the snowy academy, now hastening her footsteps of fear that she'd be late; her peers around her doing the same.

It didn't take her too long before she found the building she was looking for and familiar faces within its corridors.

"Maro, you won't believe. Joani's back at it again" came the voice of a Grio who appeared beside Maro walking along with her.

"What the fuck! Why?"

"She remains a mystery to all of us"

"Oi listen we need to get rid of her soon… This is stupid. Like what the fuck…"

"You don't need to tell _me_ that"

Another familiar face spoke out standing next to the doorway "Are you guys talking about Nayke?" came Frayin

"Go away" said Giro. "You weren't supposed to hear that"

They walked off before Giro parted ways "Ima head off to SRC. See ya"

"Nah, you won't I'm busy later today"

"Oh what? Why?"

"Training with Bartoq. Only took him like, what, 5 fucking months?"

"Haha I don't understand why you have such a hard-on for him… Ya skank"

"Hahaha I'm not the one screwing Leir"

"Oi, fuck you, ok?" was her final remark before she made with a smirk before she made a turn to another corridor and Maro arrived at her destination.

She pushed the large door open to find the blue classroom filled with water up to her ankle (as it should be) and all the 22 younglings sitting down in the center of the floor. The chattering between them faded to a halt as the smile widened on Maro's face and the door went back to the closed state it was in before.

"Morning class" she sang in a mildly enthusiastic manner

"Good morning Maro" replied the synchronised class

Bartoq who was laying on the floor with his back firmly pressed against the wall gave a slight nod of his head as a sort of approval for Maro to start the class.

The classroom was a large square room made of ice like the rest of the building with two doors that were smaller and then main one on either side.

She walked over the side and opened up the equipment room which was the door on the right of her and took out two contraptions as well as a water tank. Each contraption was a slanted half pipe held up high by four poles; two Vs that came out of each end of the half pipe and at the end of each leg floats were situated on the bottom for easy movement around the classroom.

A float meant the bottom end of the pole split into 3 like a tripod and at the end of each leg was a small air filled disk which was angles parallel to the ground.

One of these contraptions was slightly shorter than the other.

Maro brought them in front of all the younglings and posed a question:

"Does anyone know what this is?"

A hand went up.

Maro called on him: "Yes Pippin"

"Is it a cladding?" came his soft pre pubescent voice.

"Ohhhh that's a really good guess, but no. This is something else.

Anyone else know? No? Ok, about another question, can anyone guess what the point of these things are. I'll give you an obvious clue. It's to help teach you waterbending. No? No one? Merry, any ideas?" Merry shook his head "That's ok, we're going to learn together. Can anyone tell me the most basic principle of waterbending?" Almost all of them put their hands up. Maro chose one

"That water flows?" replied the youngling to her question

"Yeah, nice Samwise! So in this exercise we're going to help the water flow. The water must be able to make it from the larger pipe to the smaller pipe, but there must still be a gap between these. They're called Fallers by the way, so when I say smaller Faller I am talking about this one here" she put her hand over the smaller one "and when I say larger Faller I am talking about this bigger one here. They were named after the waterbending teacher who first created and used them to teach waterbending; Michack Faller. Now, we don't have enough room for everyone to have their ones ones, so you'll need to form groups of 3"

The younglings shuffled around and organised themselves for some minutes, with the help of Maro.

"Ok, now before we bring them out I wanna show you how this needs to work, and then I'll come around and make sure you're all doing it right. So, first you need to install the water tank on top the larger Faller and loosen the valve" She did so as she instructed and water started flowing through the larger Faller, slithering down the pipe and finally trickling onto the classroom floor "Now, I want you to make sure that the gap between them is at least your shoulders width apart. Otherwise there's no point" She adjusted the Fallers "Now, I want you to guide the water to the smaller faller. Remember, the water is already flowing here. You don't need to force it or move it. Just let it do what's it's already doing but give it a little nuge in the right direction. With that in mind, take your hand that is closer to the larger faller and lift it up, almost like you're pointed to it. Grip the water with that hand but lets the water continue to come out of the pipe without resistance. Then take your other hand and and try to touch your wrist, like this. The slide your other hand along your first hand as though you're guiding the water through your hand. Then mode your other hand along your body and along the path you want your water to take so that it may reach the pipe of the smaller Faller" Maro outstretched her other arm towards the smaller Faller and fully extended and locked it.

Surely enough the stream of water came along with it and tucked itself nicely into the pipe of the smaller faller only to proceed to fall out of the other side

"The key is to keep this motion going" was Maro's final remark as we moved her other arm back and forth along her first arm, continuously guiding the water along its path through the air.

She did this for a while and then preceded to hand out Fallers to the groups, keeping to her word and making sure every student had gotten the idea eventually. The room started to fill with the sounds of trickling water.

"Remember" she continued "the water will move no matter what you do. It'll keep flowing. Your job is to make sure it end up in the correct place"

As soon as all the children had left the class and off to their next one, Maro closed door and shed a sigh of relief. She turned a glance over at Bartoq whom she found snoozing on the wall he was leaning on. She moved over to him and nudged him. He didn't budge so she kicked him softly with her foot.

His eyes now snapped open: "Oh…" he looked around "Sorry. How was the class?"

"Shouldn't you be telling _me_ that?"

"Yeah, I know. I'm sorry. You know why though, right?"

"Yeah, Sue told me. She told me about your sleeping disorder"

"I can't help it"

"I know"

"Are you ready for our own class?"

"Yes, let's go"

"It's a bit of a walk away, you know. Do you mind a long walk?"

"Are you kidding me?"

"Right, right..."

She helped him up by linking elbows and pulling him up. They walked out past the cold corridors and icy buildings away from the institute and into the city.

They talked a bit on the way. Bartoq started:

"Did you hear about the chiefs newborn child? He'll be the future of our great nation"

"Yeah! They named him Tonraq"

"Oh really? Seams you're more ahead than me then"

They walked a while longer before they changed the topic.

"You know…" started Bartoq. "There's only 2 months left before your scheduled army enlistment. Maybe you should postpone it a bit"

"No, I wanna enlist soon!" The topic made Maro feel a bit uneasy. She just wanted to move on with her life as quickly as possible.

"But I've been talking to Marika. He says you're short range combat has a long way to go. He was surprised when I told him your enlistment date"

"Argh… Why do you hate the army so much? You have such a rich history with it"

"I was poor and didn't have any better way to make a keeping. But wait, what am I even talking about? This has nothing to do with how I feel about the army! Maro, listen to me, I really feel like you're not ready yet. Being a soldier is horrible. Not because of the physical labour or the hard work. No, in fact that's the best part. It's extremely mentally taxing. Trust me, you may think you're disciplined because you managed to walk halfway across the world, but you have no idea. Don't get me wrong, it's definitely no small feat, but still, you don't know what it's like being shouted at every day. Constantly being being punished for non-sensical things. Your life becomes a time table. Be here then, do this in this amount of time. Wanna go to the bathroom? Be back in 7 minutes or you're punished. And what am I even talking about once again? All this still has nothing to do with the fact that you're clearly not ready!"

Maro spoke coolly in contrast: "I'll take my chances. What do you think I walked halfway around the world for? To wander around the academy and eat food all the time? I can do that in the swamp. I came here so I can make something of myself! So I can have the opportunity to learn and to be me..." The last part of the sentence slipped out accidentally. She had meant to say 'to be something'.

"You can't be you when you're dead…"

This statement infuriated Maro. She decided to hold it and and let it out, like a tea pot after it finished boiling.

And finally they left the city for a while and came to a massive frozen lake.

"Here we will learn. When you're ready, stand over there" he said softly and pointed out into the distance.

The lake stretched further than Maro could see in the direction she was walking. Snowy mountains painted the edges of the lake to the sides. It was a clear day with few clouds despite the cold, and it was around midday now, though Maro had no idea because it was sunny all day long this time of year. There was a period of 2 hours in the evening when the light would dim as though the day was about to go into twilight, but it would become sunny as midway right after.

Maro felt the cool wind on her face as she looked over the stretch of the ice going ever into the distance.

She turned back to face Bartok. The mountains spun around her has his small figure came into focus. She stood facing him at a 45 degree angle; her left side closest to him.

'I'll show him my long range combat is awesome!' she thought to herself as she get into her waterbending stance. She kept her feet close together, took her left arm so that it was bent but facing him and put her right arm long her body under her chest. Her hands were flatly opened, palm side up.

"Nice stance" his voice came in response. "But you shan't be needing it. We're not practicing waterbending today"

"Wait, what?" put lowered her arms a bit.

"At least… have a stance like this" he said as her as he now stood perpendicular to her position, widened his legs, put out his elbows and put his fists to his body.

She didn't attempt it and lowered her arms down more in her confusion.

"I want you to bend the ice" he said, but before he could demonstrate she said

"Ohhh… I can do that" She put her arms back into her stance and and with a digging motion from her left arm melted a pool of ice in front of her, levitated it into the air and froze it with a motion like she was pulling open two sliding doors at once. She then proceeded to move it around in the air.

"Not like that. Have a look" he proceeded to lift his right foot into the air, and brought it down with a swift, powerful circular motion. A large block of ice bounced up from the ground in front of him and flew into the air directly upwards. He then lent his body over to the side away from the the ice block, wound his foot into his body, and right before it was about to fall, he sprung his foot into a fierce kick in the direction of the block.

It flew towards Maro in a projectile manner, but missed her on her left side. She turned to watch it as it slid away on the near frictionless surface.

"Woah!" she said in a soft tone that Bartoq couldn't hear.

"Not listen, I'm going to explain it to you. The first step is to root yourself into the ice. That is what this stance is for"

But Maro didn't listen. She was too keen on trying it. She lifted her foot from her own stance and slammed into into the floor, poorly mimicking Bartoqs motion. The result was a few cracks in the ice around where her foot fell.

"Maro, look at me" came the voice of Bartoq. Maro did so

"After you've rooted yourself, your goal is to pass energy into the ice. The ice is stubborn and won't want to move. It's your job to be more stubborn and force it to. It's not like conventional water bending. There's no flow here. Only the force of the ice against your own"

"I'm sorry" she said "Could you demonstrate it again?"

"Certainly" he said and redid the swift motion creating a new block and a new square hole in the ice in front of his. This time Maro watched him more carefully and only heard the ice slide by and away from her.

She attempted it again, better following his movement, but still to the same result.

"You're trying to find an energy to move the ice. It isn't there. You must make your own energy and resist the energy from the ice"

Her third attempt proved just as futile.

"Ok, how about this: I will kick there rocks at and you ary and stop them with your force"

She nodded

"Show me your stance"

She copied his stance

"Good, good. Can you feel yourself rooted? You must root yourself"

"I think so…"

"Alright, here comes the first one. Remember, use your energy to resist it"

He kicked a block from the ground and kicked it awards her feet, a bit more gently. She pushed her hands at the block which was now sliding and managed to slow it down, but it still found its way to her feet and she still found her way to the floor. He was slightly annoyed at this.

"Good attempt! I can feel you are starting to project your energy, but try rooting yourself. You have you bend imaginary roots into the ice to stop you from falling. Nothing can knock you down"

She got up and anticipated the next block. Exact same result, but this time as she got up, she found another block heading towards her, she got down and pushed it but it pushed harder and she did a flip tumble onto the floor. She lay there for less than a second feeling sorry for herself, but her solace as quickly interrupted by the sound of an ice block sailing awards her. She flicked herself back up and tried to stop the right one, completely ignoring the left one and failed leaving here on the ground once again. Now her blood began to boil. She got up and found another block, this time not sliding but flying at her general direction. She got out of its way, melted a part of it and using wave like motion get the water stream around her and tossed in ferrocialy like a dart at Bartoq. The only thing Bartoq could see was the backside of an ice block he was sending, followed by the dard of water less than an instant later. It hit him on the side of his rib cage under his pectoral, tore his clothes, and started a stream of blood.

"Ahhhhh!"

He fell to his knees.

"FUCK" she ran to him.

She meted some water and placed it on his wound. It was freezing so he screamed some more at the cold.

"Don't you know how to heal?!" she sounded.

"No one ever taught me" he muttered pointing his teary eyes to her

"Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck"

He wearily got up.

"I'll live" he said, his voice more steady now.

"What shall I…"

"Training is off for today. We shall resume another time" He said and walked off clutching his wound.

Maro let herself fall to the ground in between the many new craters Bartoq has made. She lay there with her eyes open for a while and hardly any motion. She welcomed the pain of the cold from the ground along her body. Pain was something she had become overly accustomed to ever since she left.

Eventually, feelings of boredom overtook her feelings of self pity and guilt and she found the energy to push herself back up again. The snowy mountains rotated from sideways to upright around her as she did so.

The young waterbender looked back at the path from which they had come and dragged herself to that direction; a blood trail leading the way.

"I must have around 2 hours to kill" came a stray thought.

She walked back along the path for a while, occasionally seeing a droplet of blood in the snow, until she decided to deviate from the way she came from and went north around the city. The trail that took the outskirts of the great trbe wound around the blue shimmering houses and buildings as she walked along. At this time, she would be the only one she could see on the trail.

Eventually, she deviated again onto another trail that took her even further north still. She knew where she was going, and eventually she got there.

She walked past the great tall water temple as she reached her destination. It's layers towered over her in a formidable fashion. Maybe next time she will go inside.

There was a small amount of people going out of the gate in water tribe colours as she got to what was her destination. The gate was the entrance to a cave in a tall cliff. It was about a head taller than Maro, and stretched out about twicer her size. It was made up of two parts, and was oddly made of wood. Not too many things in the tribe were made of anything but ice. On the side of the gate was a small sign. Maro read it at the pace of snail for she was not adept at reading quite yet:

"Quee… oh, that says Quiet. Zone. Please no no-iss… oh, noise. Inside. Quiet Zone, please no noise inside" she repeated it all at once and replied to the sign "Ok then" before she pushed the right door of the gate and went in.

Inside was the spirit oasis. There were people all around mediating, basking in the spiritual energy. One of them was even wearing fire nation attire.

Maro walked very slowly and very carefully, so as to not make any noise on the grass.

The air here was rather warm, despite all the walls made of ice, so maro took off her large coat and hung it on the hook by the entrance, next to some more coats.

The Oasis was a large room with a very high ceiling. Except it wasn't a room so much as it was a cave that's was taller than it was long. Deep water stretched along its floors and grassy ways that were only just taller than the height of the water were also present, and connected by small, low bridges with no rails or any kind of support like that. People were meditating on the grass, and in the shallow areas of the water where the earth was just transitioning from it's grassy land to its deep bottom.

In the center back of the Oasis was a perfectly round grass Island connected by two bridges coming from either side. In the front center of the island was a perfectly round pool of water. Behind the pool and on either side of it were two small plumeria trees, blossoming the most beautiful pink flowers with petals under their branches. In between these small trees was a wonderful bamboo bush which was dense and leafy at the top, like a canopy that stretched above the height of the two trees. Some rocks of various sizes lay the base of this vegetation patch, and finally, to complete the island, right in front of the bamboo was a small blue torii gate, whose top was just below the canopy of the bamboo and that had a water tribe moon and ocean symbol glimmering in its center. There was a couple of people meditating on the Island.

Maro couldn't see what was inside the pool in the island from the distance she was at, but she knew. This wasn't her first visit here.

She crept along to the island where she stealthily weaved around the meditators as she had done until now, got on her hands and knees and crawled to the edge of the pool in the center of the island. She leant over and gazed as Tui and La circled each other in an infinite and hypnotic manner. Round and round and round and round.

Tui and La were two koi fish who were the moon and ocean spirits. Also known as push and pull; yin and yang. One fish was black with a white spot on his head, the other white with a black spot on his head.

Though she was caught in a trance of their movement, she couldn't help but think "Why do they bother? They only keep doing the same thing over and over again… destined to always end up in the same place, but keep moving anyway…"

After some minutes her eyes got tired, and Tui and La slowly faded out of focus to reveal a Maro in the foreground instead. The Maro on top stared down at this new Maro in the pool, and she returned the stare back at her. She lifted her hand and reached it out. Lower Maro followed along. She nearly touched the water, before she folded her arm back into her body and stood up by the pool now facing away from it. She walked back out of the Oasis, small tear now coming down her face. She grabbed her coat and put it back on before pulling the gate and leaving.

She turned left after coming out, and instead of going back to the city, she went around the natural structure that formed the exterior of the Oasis. Eventually, she found what she was looking for, which was a sharp set of stairs that led to the lookout on top.

As if she didn't feel lifeless enough already, now she had lost breath, but was at the top. There was no one else there.

She walked over to the front and lent her full weight on the rail. She peered over the entire tribe, seeing it in all of it's glory. It stretched out further than she could see, but she knew the great docks were not too much further than her line of sight.

She looked behind her. She saw a great valley of many icy and snowy mountains. Behind them was the north pole; the tip the earth.

She looked forwards and saw a glorious sight.

She looked backwards and saw a glorious sight.

But the young traveler just stood there, frail and helpless, wondering what should she do with it all.


End file.
